Detrimental effect of increased blood pressure variability on clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke treated with reperfusion therapy: a case control study

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure variability (BPV) is related to clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treated with reperfusion therapy, but still is not included in clinical practice. This study aims to associate BPV during the first week of AIS with the outcome at three months. METHODS: We included 236 AIS patients treated with reperfusion therapy, and then divided them into good outcome and poor outcome groups. BPV measurements, including standard deviation, coefficient of variation, average real variability (ARV), and range, were recorded at stages of 2 h, 24 h, and 7 days after reperfusion therapy, respectively. These measurements were compared between the two groups. Then, ROC curve analysis examined the ability of BPV measurements in differentiating good and poor outcome groups; logistic regression analysis detected variables associated with clinical outcome in all subjects. RESULTS: The good outcome group exhibited significantly less BPV at all stages relative to the poor outcome group. The BPV measurements exhibited the potential to differentiate the two groups by the ROC curve analysis, especially for those at the 24-h stage. Higher ARV of diastolic BP and higher range of systolic BP at the 24-h stage, together with greater disease severity at baseline, were associated with poor clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Greater BPV during the first week of AIS is associated with poor outcome for the patients treated with reperfusion therapy. The BPV measurements play an important role in modulating clinical outcome, and have the potential to be included in future AIS guidelines.