Nearly Half of U.S. Stroke Patients Remain Hypertensive

By: MITCHEL L. ZOLER, Family Practice News Digital Network:

NEW ORLEANS – Nearly half of adult Americans who self-reported a history of stroke also had poorly-controlled hypertension, based on a review of data collected from a U.S. nationwide sample during 1999-2004.

In addition, another 8% of stroke survivors had undiagnosed hypertension, Dr. Amytis Towfighi and her associates reported in a poster at the International Stroke Conference.

“Several medical and lifestyle modification factors could be potential targets of intervention to bridge this evidence practice gap,” said Dr. Towfighi, a neurologist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and director of the acute neurology/acute stroke unit at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, Calif.

Dr. Towfighi and her associates used data collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during 1999-2004. Among the 9,145 Americans aged 40 years or older included in the NHANES surveys during those years, 490 (5%) self-reported a history of stroke.

Within this subgroup of stroke survivors, 72% said that they had been diagnosed with hypertension, and 47% had hypertension that was poorly controlled, with a blood pressure at the time of NHANES data collected that exceeded 140/90 mm Hg. An additional 8% of the stroke survivors had hypertension based on their NHANES data but did not self-report a previous diagnosis of hypertension. Read Full Article