Background and Purpose-The Joint National Committee on High Blood Pressure identified a new category of blood pressure in adults termed prehypertension. Our objective was to determine the long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases associated with this new category in a well-defined cohort of adults. Methods-We evaluated the association of prehypertension (120 to 139/80 to 89 mm Hg) and hypertension (Ͼ140/ 90 mm Hg) with the incidence of atherothrombotic brain infarction (ABI), all strokes, myocardial infarction (MI), and coronary artery disease (CAD) using pooled repeated measures and Cox proportional hazards analyses during follow-up after adjusting for age, gender, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, cigarette smoking, and study period in a cohort of 5181 persons who participated in the Framingham Study. Results-Among the 11 116 person observations with a mean follow-up period of 9.9Ϯ1.0 years, prehypertension was not associated with an increased risk for ABI (relative risk [RR], 2.2; 95% CI, 0.5 to 9.3). Among the 11 802 person observations with a mean follow-up period of 9.7Ϯ1.5 years, prehypertension was associated with an increased risk for MI (RR, 3.5; 95% CI, 1.6 to 7.5). Prehypertension was also associated with an increased risk of CADs among the 11 570 person observations (RR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.4). Conclusions-Prehypertension appears to be associated with an increased risk of MI and CAD but not stroke. Further studies are required to confirm the anticipated benefits of identifying and intervening in persons with prehypertension.

A high rate of recanalization and clinical improvement can be observed in patients with ischemic stroke using low-dose thrombolytic agents with adjunctive mechanical disruption of clot. Moreover, this strategy may reduce the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage observed with thrombolytics.

Objective To determine the predictive value of discharge destination as a surrogate for defining unfavorable outcome at 3- and 12-months poststroke. Design Analysis of the prospectively collected data from a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in patients with ischemic stroke presenting within 3 hours of symptom onset. Setting Post hoc analysis of patients recruited in a clinical trial. Participants Patients (N=530) discharged alive from the hospital after ischemic stroke. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Positive and negative predictive value and likelihood ratios of discharge destination for unfavorable outcome at 3- and 12-months poststroke defined by a Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) score of 2 to 6, 3 to 6, or 4 to 6. A likelihood ratio indicates how many times more (or less) likely a particular discharge destination is seen in patients with an unfavorable outcome compared with those without unfavorable outcome. Results The positive predictive value of nursing home and rehabilitation facility discharges was highest for unfavorable outcome defined by an MRS score of 2 to 6 (95%) and rehabilitation facility (89%) at 3-months poststroke, respectively. The positive predictive value of rehabilitation facility/nursing home (90%) was also highest for unfavorable outcomes defined by an MRS score of 2 to 6 compared with those defined by MRS scores of 3 to 6 (79%) and 4 to 6 (57%). The positive likelihood ratio was highest for nursing home discharges (13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1– 41) followed by rehabilitation facility discharges for unfavorable outcome defined by an MRS score of 2 to 6 at 3-months poststroke (5.3; 95% CI, 3.5–7.9). The negative likelihood ratio was the highest for home discharge for unfavorable outcome defined by an MRS score of 2 to 6 (4.5; 95% CI, 3.4 – 6.1). A similar pattern was observed with unfavorable outcome defined using various thresholds at 12 months. Conclusions Discharge destination can provide high predictive values and likelihood ratios for death and disability at 3-months poststroke, as defined by an MRS of score of 2 to 6.

Although hyperdense artery sign is associated with poor outcome, IV recombinant tissue plasminogen activator may be beneficial in this subgroup of patients with ischemic stroke.

We compared the rates of recanalization cerebral infarct and hemorrhage between intra-arterial (i.a.) reteplase and intravenous (i.v.) alteplase thrombolysis in a canine model of basilar artery thrombosis. Thrombosis was induced by injecting a clot in the basilar artery of 13 anesthetized dogs via superselective catheterization. The animals were randomized in a blinded fashion, 2 h after clot injection and verification of arterial occlusion, to receive i.v. alteplase 0.9 mg/kg over 60 min and i.a. placebo, or i.a. reteplase 0.09 units/kg over 20 min, equivalent to one-half the alteplase dose, and i.v. placebo. Recanalization was studied for 6 h after treatment with serial angiography; the images were later graded in a blinded fashion. Blinded interpretation of postmortem MRI was performed to assess the presence of brain infarcts and/or hemorrhage. At 3 h after initiation of treatment, partial or complete recanalization was observed in one of six dogs in the i.v. alteplase group and in five of seven in the i.a. reteplase group (P = 0.08). At 6 h, no significant difference in partial or complete recanalization was observed between the groups (two of six vs. five of seven; P = 0.20). Postmortem MRI revealed infarcts in four of six animals treated with i.v. alteplase and three of seven treated with i.a. reteplase (P = 0.4). Intracerebral hemorrhage was more common in the i.v. alteplase group (four of six vs. none of seven; P = 0.02). This study thus suggests that i.a. thrombolysis affords a recanalization rate similar to that of i.v. thrombolysis, but with a lower rate of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Systolic blood pressure (BP) of less than 140 mm Hg and diastolic BP of less than 90 mm Hg were previously considered normal. However, there was some evidence that even BP in the high reference range was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure defined a new BP category "prehypertension" for systolic and diastolic BP: 120 to 139 mm Hg and 85 to 89 mm Hg, respectively. This new category is a continuum to hypertension and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The progression of prehypertension to hypertension can be delayed or may be prevented by lifestyle changes.

T he risk of intracranial aneurysm formation and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is higher in postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal women. 8,13,18,19,28 Reduced levels of estrogen in postmenopausal women may increase the risk of aneurysm formation and rupture by reduction in collagen and elastin content and reduced elasticity of arterial walls. 3 In an experimental intracranial aneurysm mouse model, estrogen prevented aneurysmal rupture in ovariectomized mice. 30The protective effect of estrogen seemed to occur through activation of estrogen receptor-b, a predominant subtype of estrogen receptor in human intracranial aneurysms and cerebral arteries. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was associated with reduced risk of spontaneous SAH in postmenopausal women in most 19,22 but not all case control studies. 25 The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) randomized trial 33 assessed the effect of estrogen plus progestin on ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in 608 women 50-79 years of age with an average follow-up of 5.6 years. There was a nonsignificant protective effect on hemorrhagic stroke (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.43-1.56). However, the study was underpowered because there were only 10 SAH events among the randomized patients. A meta-analysis 24 found a small nonsignificant protective effect of HRT on risk of SAH (HR 0.8, 95% CI 0.57-1.04).We performed this study to determine the effect of abbreviatioNs HRT = hormone replacement therapy; RR = relative risk; SAH = subarachnoid hemorrhage; SE = standard error; WHI = Women's Health Initiative. obJective The incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) increases after menopause. Anecdotal data suggest that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may reduce the rate of SAH and aneurysm formation in women. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of HRT on occurrence of SAH in a large prospective cohort of postmenopausal women. methods The data were analyzed for 93,676 women 50-79 years of age who were enrolled in the observational arm of the Women's Health Initiative Study. The effect of HRT on risk of SAH was determined over a period of 12 ± 1 years (mean ± SD) using Cox proportional hazards analysis after adjusting for potential confounders. Additional analysis was performed to identify the risk associated with "estrogen only" and "estrogen and progesterone" HRT among women. results Of the 93,676 participants, 114 (0.1%) developed SAH during the follow-up period. The rate of SAH was higher among women on active HRT compared with those without HRT used (0.14% vs 0.11%, absolute difference 0.03%, p < 0.0001). In unadjusted analysis, participants who reported active use of HRT were 60% more likely to suffer an SAH (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.3). Compared with women without HRT use, the risk of SAH continued to be higher among women reporting active use of HRT (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.2) after adjusting for age, systolic blood pressure, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, race/ethnicity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The risk of SAH was nonsignificantly h...

Women with pregnancy at an advanced age have a higher risk for hemorrhagic stroke in the postmenopausal period.