Can Low Blood Pressure Lead to Stroke? Read on to Find Out More

We have been accustomed to instances that link high blood pressure and stroke; that at times enhances the chances of death. However, a scientific study conducted recently put forward a connection between low blood pressure and stroke, as well. It states that increased chances of stroke have been detected even in people with low blood pressure, thereby positioning both hypertension and low blood pressure equally responsible for death post stroke.

What comes as a revelation is the fact the ones with lower blood pressure had the maximum mortality. This was observed particularly in people with minimum 1 comorbidity of smoking, cardiovascular disease, cancer or dementia.

10 percent of stroke patients with a medical history of low to low-normal blood pressures were prone to high risk mortality as communicated by Hugo J. Aparicio, MD, MPH, assistant professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and an investigator at the Framingham Heart Study.

Within the prior 18 months before stroke, 30,000 Veteran patients who suffered first ischemic stroke exhibited outpatient blood pressure measurements i.e., lower average blood pressure. It was also observed that higher death risks occurred in patients who smoked, had dementia or cancer or cardiac problems.

The researchers having conducted the study thoroughly concluded that enhanced mortality risk has been the outcome for both very high and very low blood pressure patients.

So far though there have been protocols to treat high blood pressure following stroke, no guidelines on treatment timing have been laid out. The national guidelines also don’t state about what should be done in patients exhibiting normal, low or mildly elevated range of blood pressures.

In the light of this information, further investigations on factors that lead to death after stroke, would aid patients and doctors deal with proper diagnosis, treatment (of risk factors like smoking, cardiac ailment, cancer) and tackle low pressure challenges better to ensure recovery and survival.

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