Does intensive treatment targeting SBP <120 mm Hg reduce the incidence of stroke in hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risk compared to standard treatment targeting SBP <140 mm Hg?
Intensive blood pressure control targeting SBP <120 mm Hg significantly reduces the risk of hemorrhagic stroke by half compared to targeting <140 mm Hg, with benefits emerging after 1 year.
BACKGROUND: Elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) accounts for one-half of the population attributable fraction for stroke, so lowering SBP is the most important treatment for preventing stroke. OBJECTIVES: In this study, the authors sought to assess the effects of intensive treatment targeting SBP 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with targeting <140 mm Hg, targeting <120 mm Hg halved the risk of hemorrhagic stroke and did not increase that of ischemic stroke. The stroke-preventing effect emerged after 1 year of intervention. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.