Factors influencing admission blood pressure levels in patients with acute stroke.

In clinical practice, patients with acute stroke often have high blood pressure. The aim of this study was to investigate factors correlated with blood pressure elevation in 843 consecutive stroke patients on hospital admission to a nonintensive stroke unit. Using a multivariate analysis model, we analyzed the influence on admission blood pressure of sex, age, previous hypertension, cardiac failure, diabetes, type of stroke, impaired consciousness, and latency between onset of symptoms and admission. Previous hypertension was the strongest predictor (p less than 0.001) of elevated blood pressure on admission, followed by the presence of intracerebral hemorrhage (p less than 0.001). The latency between onset of symptoms and admission showed no correlation with blood pressure levels at hospitalization. Previously, high blood pressure levels on hospital admission have been shown to decline within a few days in hospital. We therefore hypothesize that mental stress on hospital admission may be a major factor in the blood pressure elevation seen in acute stroke.