Superior stroke prevention with angiotensin receptor blockers compared with other antihypertensive drugs

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability and its incidence is linearly increased with the elevation of blood pressure (BP) and the advancement of age in both men and women, with its incidence being higher in older subjects, the blacks and women.

Areas covered

The annual worldwide incidence of stroke is 7.6 million for subjects ≥ 20 years of age with the average direct and indirect annual costs of stroke care, is expected to be $94.3 billion between 2014 and 2015. With respect to the cause of stroke, this is multifactorial, due to atherosclerotic heart disease, inflammation, atrial fibrillation, and hypertension with the latter being the most important cause. Therefore, control of BP is the major factor for its prevention. In order to get a better perspective on the current management of stroke, a Medline search of the English literature was conducted between 2014 and 2022 and 26 pertinent papers were selected.

Expert opinion

Review of data from the selected papers demonstrated that control of SSBP < 130 mmHg was better in stroke prevention than SBP 130–140 mmHg for primary and secondary strokes. Among the drugs used, angiotensin receptor blockers provided superior stroke prevention compared to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and other antihypertensive drugs.

KEYWORDS:

• Stroke
• incidence
• blood pressure
• treatment
• drugs

Declaration of interests

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contribution statement

George S. Chrysant contributed in the preparation of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.