Effects of Early Hypertension Control after Ischaemic Stroke on the Outcome: A Meta-Analysis

Accumulating evidence suggests that high blood pressure (BP) increases the risk of cerebral oedema and haemorrhagic transformation of the ischaemic stroke (IS), and that low BP in acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) is associated with a poor prognosis. The best possible management of hypertension after AIS is still uncertain.

English databases were searched to identify relevant randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of early BP lowering (started within the first 48 h) after IS on outcome from January 1990 to August 2015. We set strict inclusion criteria and used the Review Manager 5.2 software from Cochrane Collaboration to calculate the combined risk ratio (RR).

Eight studies met our criteria. Early BP lowering after AIS did not significantly affect the risk of early and long-term death (RR 1.22; 95% CI 0.69-2.16 and RR 1.03; 95% CI 0.62-1.71), early and long-term dependency (RR 1.02; 95% CI 0.94-1.10 and RR 1.07; 95% CI 0.84-1.36), early and long-term death or dependency (RR 1.04; 95% CI 0.94-1.19 and RR 1.00; 95% CI 0.95-1.05), long-term stroke recurrence (RR 0.74; 95% CI 0.49-1.11), long-term myocardial infarction (RR 0.99; 95% CI 0.27-3.61), and long-term vascular events (RR 0.97; 95% CI 0.72-1.31).

Our results revealed neither support nor opposition to early BP lowering (started within 48 h) after AIS; individualized BP management based on the patients' condition may be a good choice.