Treating hypertension could cut the annual number of bleeding
strokes in the United States by about one-fourth, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of
Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“We estimate that 17 percent to 28 percent of hemorrhagic strokes among hypertensive patients would have been prevented if they had been on hypertension treatment,” said lead author Daniel Woo, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Cincinnati. However, even when treated, high-blood pressure remains a significant risk factor for hemorrhagic strokes.
Woo and his colleagues found that the risk for hemorrhagic stroke among people with untreated hypertension was 3.7 times greater than that for the general population in and around Cincinnati. The risk for the treated hypertension patients was 1.4 times higher.
Hemorrhages cause about 20 percent of all strokes. They include two basic types: intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). ICH occurs when a blood vessel ruptures inside the brain. SAH results from bleeding into the space between the brain and the lining that surrounds it.
About half of people who have a hemorrhagic stroke die. Many survivors are left with paralysis and other debilitating effects.
Researchers studied 549 patients treated for stroke between May 1997 and December 2002 at 16 hospitals within a 50-mile radius of the University of Cincinnati and compared them to age, race and gender-matched controls. Among their other findings: