ABSTRACT
Objective The relationship between hypertension ( HTN) and ischemic stroke recurrence is unclear , but there may be different effects of HTN on the risk of recurrence .This study aims to explore whether HTN contributes differently to the recur-rence among subtypes of ischemic stroke ( IS) . Methods We eventually enrolled 1114 patients with ischemic stroke from Jul 2008 to Dec 2012 registered in Nanjing Stroke Registry Program (NSRP) in this study.All the patients were classified according to Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) criteria: 315 (28.3%) patiwnts were classified as Large-artery atheroselerosis (LAA), 212 (19.0%) as cardioembolism (CE), 266 (23.9%) as small-artery occlusion (SAO), and 321 (28.8%) as other de-termined and undetermined etiologies ( Other) .The association between HTN and stroke recurrence in patients with different IS sub-types was analyzed using multivariate Cox regression analysis . Results The average follow-up duration was (19.4 ±10.3) months. Of 1114 patients with IS, 158 (14.2%) patients experienced a recurrent stroke .Patients with HTN had a significantly higher stroke recurrence rate than those without (16.5%vs 10.5%, P<0.05).Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that HTN increased the risk of ischemic stroke recurrence (HR=1.722, 95%CI:1.181-2.512, P=0.005).After stratification by TOAST subtypes, analysis revealed an association between HTN and stroke recurrence in LAA( HR=3 .767, 95%CI:1.866-7.585, P=0.001) and SAO (HR=3.530, 95%CI:1.156-12.740, P=0.028), but not in the other subtypes (CE: HR=0.773, 95%CI:0.370-1.615, P=0.493;Other:HR=1.498, 95%CI:0.590-3.807, P=0.395). Conclusion HTN is an independent risk factor for recurrent ischemic stroke and is related to the recurrent ischemic stroke in patients with large-artery and small-vessel disease .