The relationship between blood pressure variability and outcome in acute ischemic stroke

Stroke is the second most common cause of mortality. Ischemic stroke is approximately 10 times more common than haemorrhagic stroke. The strongest risk factor for ischemic stroke is hypertension, thus reduction of blood pressure decreases the risk of ischemic stroke. However, the prognostic importance of blood pressure after is unclear. The problem is even more complex considering blood pressure variability (BPV), i.e. continuous changes of blood pressure values. The aim of this review is to discuss the very short-term, short-term, mid-term, and long-term blood pressure variability in the context of clinical outcome in patients after acute ischemic stroke. Most of the studies have shown that increased BPV in ischemic stroke patients is associated with poorer prognosis, however in some of them there was not association between BPV and outcome.