Lower stroke death rates in patients receiving blood pressure lowering therapy before the onset of a stroke.

The objective of this study was to compare stroke death rates among patients with and without blood pressure lowering treatment before the onset of the stroke. During two consecutive years all patients with acute stroke were recorded by 178 Belgian general practitioners of the sentinel network. In total 511 patients with acute stroke were recorded. The death rate after one month was found significantly higher among the untreated patients (33%; n = 84) compared to those receiving blood pressure lowering treatment (23%; n = 61) (p = 0.007). Blood pressure lowering treatment before the onset of stroke had a beneficial effect on survival in a backward stepwise logistic regression (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.20-0.72). In conclusion, stroke mortality is significantly lower among patients receiving blood pressure lowering treatment before the onset of stroke compared to those without blood pressure lowering treatment.