title: Blood pressure changes in acute cerebral infarction and hemorrhage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to investigate the changes in blood pressure (BP) that occur after hospitalization of patients with different types of acute stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four-hour ambulatory BP monitoring was performed on days 1 and 7 after admission to the hospital in 72 patients with acute stroke (44 thromboembolic strokes, 18 lacunar infarcts, and 10 intracerebral hemorrhages) and in 22 control patients. Stroke was categorized clinically into the above stroke subtypes with radiological confirmation. The controls were patients admitted with a range of acute medical problems other than stroke who were not severely ill or in significant pain. Left ventricular hypertrophy was assessed with echocardiography. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the effect of stroke category on BP after adjustment for the effects of potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with thromboembolic and lacunar strokes had significantly higher systolic BP (SBP) on day 1 than control subjects (mean, 8.6% and 13.2%, respectively). Diastolic BP (DBP) was also significantly higher for patients with thromboembolic and lacunar strokes on day 1 (mean, 11.7% and 14.6%, respectively). Patients with intracerebral hemorrhage had SBP 9.7% and DBP 6.3% higher than control subjects on day 1, but the results did not achieve statistical significance. By day 7 there was no significant difference in SBP or DBP between the stroke subgroups and control subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BP is elevated after stroke but resolves spontaneously after 7 days. This transient elevation in BP does not appear to result solely from the stress of hospitalization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aged Care, St George Hospital and University of New South Wales, Kogarah, Australia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morfis
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Poulos
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Howes
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged