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Blood pressure rise in spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage: epiphenomenon or precipitating factor?

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 17, pages 77–79 (2003)Cite this article

Dear Sir,

High blood pressure (BP) is often observed in acute stroke, and especially in intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) patients on admission to hospital.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 The underlying pathophysiological mechanism for this rise in BP is not clear and has generally been regarded as a direct and specific reaction to the vascular event itself, or has been associated with different factors such as Cushing response, stress of hospitalisation, autonomic nervous system damage, and history of hypertension.3,4,5,6 Although these mechanisms may be operant, BP in stroke patients is probably the result of multifactorial interactions between pre-existing factors and specific aspects of the vascular event. Previous studies in patients with ICH4,5 were mainly concerned with evaluating rela-tions between BP and certain clinical and radiographic characteristics of the haemorrhage and ignor-ed pre-existing factors that may determine BP. These factors may contribute heavily to the high BP obser-ved at ICH onset, and in such cases the rise in BP maytrigger bleeding rather than being an epiphenomenon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Sezione di Neurologia, Siena, Italy

    S Passero & S Rossi

  2. Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche, Università di Siena, Siena, Italy

    G Ciacci

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  1. S Passero
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  2. G Ciacci
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  3. S Rossi
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Correspondence to S Passero.

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Passero, S., Ciacci, G. & Rossi, S. Blood pressure rise in spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage: epiphenomenon or precipitating factor?. J Hum Hypertens 17, 77–79 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001481

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