BP control, antihypertensive drug use prevent death after stroke

Ischaemic stroke (IS) patients with consistently controlled blood pressure (BP) and who regularly take antihypertensive medications following discharge have lower risks of death and vascular events, reports a recent study.

A total of 3,406 acute IS patients were included in this study. Follow-ups were carried out at 3, 12, and 24 months after stroke. Outcomes assessed included death, vascular events, and the composite of death or vascular events.

The authors used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 percent confidence interval (CI) of death and the composite of death or vascular events associated with BP control and use of antihypertensive medications.

IS patients with consistently controlled BP had significantly lower risks of death (adjusted HR, 0.22, 95 percent CI, 0.09‒0.57) and composite outcome of death or vascular events (adjusted HR, 0.60, 95 percent CI, 0.39‒0.97) compared with those with consistently uncontrolled BP.

Furthermore, patients with both consistently controlled BP and regular use of antihypertensive medication benefitted from the lowest risks of death (HR, 0.18, 95 percent CI, 0.04‒0.75) and composite outcome of death or vascular events (HR, 0.54, 95 percent CI, 0.29‒0.98) relative to those with both uncontrolled BP and irregular use of antihypertensives.

“These findings suggest the importance of continuous BP control and regular use of antihypertensives after discharge for improving IS prognosis,” the authors said.