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Posted by on Mar 13, 2015 in Hypertension | 0 comments

In a nutshell

This study investigated whether high blood pressure (hypertension) can cause the recurrence of some types of ischemic stroke.

Some background

Hypertension is where pressure in blood vessels is too high. This can cause blood to pool and form blood clots. The blood clots can travel to the brain and cause a stroke. 

A stroke occurs when there is a disturbance of blood supply to a part of the brain. Most strokes are caused by a blood clot in the brain, known as an ischemic stroke. The blood clot blocks off blood flow and oxygen and can cause brain damage.

Hypertension is known to be a major risk factor for ischemic stroke. However, whether it causes recurrence of ischemic strokes is controversial. This may be because that there are many different types of ischemic stroke and hypertension may only increase the recurrence of one subtype. 

Methods & findings

This study investigated whether hypertension is associated with the recurrence of different substypes of ischemic stroke. The subtypes of ischemic stroke used in the study included small-artery occlusion (blood clot in a small brain artery), large-artery atherosclerosis (blood clot caused by the build up of fat and cholesterol in a large blood vessel), and cardioembolic stroke (a blood clot that originated in the heart and travelled to the brain).

The study found that out of 11,560 patients with ischemic stroke, 73% had hypertension and 18% experienced a recurrent stroke within 1 year. Hypertension was only associated with the recurrence of a small-artery occlusion stroke. It was found that patients who had hypertension and a small-artery occlusion ischemic stroke had a 52% increased chance of getting a subseqent stroke, compared to those without hypertension.  Patients who had a different type of ischemic stroke, did not have an increased risk of stroke recurrence if they had hypertension. 

The bottom line

The study concluded that hypertension is specifically related to recurrent strokes in patients who had a small vessel stroke.  

The fine print

The investigators retrieved data from a hospital-based registry, compared to a real-time study, so this might introduce some inaccuracies in the findings.

What’s next?

If you or someone you know have had a small-artery occlusion stroke and have high blood pressure, talk to a doctor abouts ways to reduce blood pressure and reduce the risk of a recurrent stroke. 

Published By :

Stroke

Date :

May 01, 2013

Original Title :

Association of hypertension with stroke recurrence depends on ischemic stroke subtype.

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