[Stroke prevention with a high risk strategy of treating hypertension in patients after a transient ischemic attack].

High-risk strategies represent important preventive measures that focus on individuals with a defined high risk of suffering a chronic disease. They are valuable in addition to measures of prevention within the general population. One example for a high-risk approach for stroke prevention is the treatment of hypertension in individuals that have previously suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Data from the Klosterneuburg Stroke Data Bank and other sources enable an estimate of 2000 TIAs occurring in Austria each year, half of them being hypertensives that are mostly not treated or not sufficiently treated for their hypertension. A high-risk programme that implies forced and effective treatment of hypertension would prevent some 400 strokes or 3% of 16,000 first-ever strokes per year. Costs for preventing one stroke by means of Betablocker agents would amount to ATS 3500 and by ACE-inhibitor agents ATS 11,500, respectively. In addition to general preventive measures, such a programme would have an important impact on stroke incidence and public health.