Blood Pressure in Acute Stroke: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

Patients with acute stroke often have high blood pressure levels the first days after hospital admission. The causes of high blood pressure in patients with acute stroke are incompletely known. In stroke patients with large cerebral lesions and impaired consciousness, high blood pressure seems to be secondary to high intracranial pressure and in these patients high blood pressure indicates a worse prognosis. In the majority of patients, alert on hospital admission, high blood pressure increases from hospitalization stress and is not related to a worse prognosis. (Hypertens Res 1994; 17 Suppl. I: S77-S82)