Stroke and Hypertension: Recent Trends of High Blood Pressure and the Decline in Stroke Mortality

Abstract

High blood pressure has long been recognized as associated with increased risk of stroke. Basically, the higher the systolic blood pressure, the greater the risk of stroke. The high blood pressure risks are evident in both genders, all ages and all population. Since the 1970s, evidence has been generated deter mining that lowering the blood pressure reduces the risks of stroke. At the population level, the blood pressure distri butions in the United States have shifted to the left, i.e. current population blood pressure levels are lower than previous decades. These lower blood pressures are associated with lower stroke risks. The lower blood pressures are attributed to structured programs implemented specifically to lower blood pressure in the population, clinical guidelines detailed to pharmacologically lower pressures, hypertension prevention efforts and programs, and additional resources devoted to lower blood pressure. These intervention and prevention have been effective in lowering blood pressures and stroke risk reduction. While additional improvements remain to be accomplished globally, the models of lower blood pressures and hypertension should be considered one of the major public health success stories in the past 50 years and a major objective for population risk reduction throughout the world.