Twenty-four-hour blood pressure trajectories and clinical outcomes in patients who had an acute ischaemic stroke

Objective The management of blood pressure (BP) in acute ischaemic stroke remains a subject of controversy. This investigation aimed to explore the relationship between 24-hour BP patterns following ischaemic stroke and clinical outcomes. Methods A cohort of 4069 patients who had an acute ischaemic stroke from 26 hospitals was examined. Five systolic BP trajectories were identified by using latent mixture modelling: trajectory category 5 (190–170 mm Hg), trajectory category 4 (180–140 mm Hg), trajectory category 3 (170–160 mm Hg), trajectory category 2 (155–145 mm Hg) and trajectory category 1 (150–130 mm Hg). The primary outcome was a composite outcome of death and major disability at 3 months poststroke. Results Patients with trajectory category 5 exhibited the highest risk, while those with trajectory category 1 had the lowest risk of adverse outcomes at 3-month follow-up. Compared with the patients in the trajectory category 5, adjusted ORs (95% CIs) for the primary outcome were 0.79 (0.58 to 1.10), 0.70 (0.53 to 0.93), 0.64 (0.47 to 0.86) and 0.47 (0.33 to 0.66) among patients in trajectory category 4, trajectory category 3, trajectory category 2 and trajectory category 1, respectively. Similar trends were observed for death, vascular events and the composite outcome of death and vascular events. Conclusion Patients with persistently high BP at 180 mm Hg within 24 hours of ischaemic stroke onset had the highest risk, while those maintaining stable BP at a moderate-low level (150 mm Hg) or even a low level (137 mm Hg) had more favourable outcomes.