Untreated High Blood Pressure and Risk of Stroke

According to a study presented at the International Stroke Conference 2016, untreated high blood pressure may considerably enhance your risk of developing a brain bleed.

Intracerebral hemorrhage is a kind of stroke triggered by a weakened blood vessel that ruptures and bleeds into brain tissue. High blood pressure is a powerful determinant of risk for intracerebral hemorrhage.

Investigators analyzed six years of data from 4,646 sufferers who were white, black or Hispanic. 50% of them had an intracerebral hemorrhage.

Research investigators identified:

In comparison to individuals without high blood pressure, untreated high blood pressure enhanced the odds of a brain bleed by 9.5 times in whites, 9.7 times in Hispanics, and 11.1 times in blacks.

For individuals with high blood pressure, neglected high blood pressure was connected to a 3.7 to 5.5 greater odds of brain bleed in comparison to when it’s treated.

For sufferers with brain bleed and an earlier diagnosis of high blood pressure, high blood pressure was more probably to not be treated in blacks (43.3% untreated) and Hispanics (48.3%) compared to whites (33.2 %).

Even when high blood pressure was treated, blacks continued to have 75% higher odds and Hispanics 50% higher odds of brain bleed, in comparison to whites.

Study author Kyle Walsh said,

“The average age for a brain hemorrhage is much younger in minorities, particularly in African-Americans, so they may suffer more disability earlier in life than others.

Even though it’s not entirely clear why racial minorities have greater rates of untreated high blood pressure, a possible cause is an accessibility to medical care, author said.

The study reviewed data from the Ethnic/Racial Variations of ICH (ERICH) study, which observed people from 42 various sites. Each of the 2,323 individuals with bleeding stroke was matched up with another individual similar in age, gender, race/ethnicity, and geographic area, but who did not have a record of this kind of stroke.

Investigators collected blood pressure data based on participants’ medical history. They examined the number of cases with high blood pressure, which includes treated vs. untreated high blood pressure, and the related risk of bleeding stroke. The investigators also controlled for the effects of various factors which includes alcohol, cholesterol, education, insurance status, and blood thinning medications.

Concluding this Walsh said,

“It’s essential to be conscious of having high blood pressure in the initial place, and once diagnosed, to have it treated properly,”