Prescription of blood pressure lowering treatment after intracerebral haemorrhage: Prospective, population-based cohort study

Abstract

Introduction Blood pressure (BP) lowering reduces the risk of recurrent stroke after intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). However, implementation of BP lowering in clinical practice in the UK is unknown. Patients and methods We identified adults with first-ever incident ICH to quantify the proportion who survived >14 days after hospital discharge and were prescribed BP-lowering medication in a prospective, population-based, inception cohort study in the Lothian region of Scotland during June 2010–May 2012 and January–December 2019. After the first cohort, we analysed reasons for avoiding BP-lowering medication in a sample from the Lothian region of the Scottish Stroke Care Audit during January 2017–November 2017, which informed a quality improvement intervention that was implemented in the second cohort. Results After efforts to improve monitoring and lowering of BP amongst ICH survivors, there was an increase in the proportion of patients prescribed BP-lowering medication at hospital discharge between the first and second population-based cohorts (81/130 [62%] vs. 68/89 [76%]; P = 0.028). Compared with patients not prescribed BP-lowering medication at hospital discharge, patients prescribed BP-lowering medication presented with higher systolic BP (177 vs. 156 mm Hg, P = 0.002 and 180 vs. 149 mm Hg, P < 0.001, in the first and second population-based cohorts, respectively), and were more likely to have pre-morbid hypertension (85% vs. 33%, P < 0.001 and 72% vs. 29%, P < 0.001) and atrial fibrillation (35% vs. 4%, P < 0.001 and 26% vs. 5%, P < 0.034). Conclusion In this population-based study, the proportion of patients with ICH who were prescribed BP-lowering medication at hospital discharge increased after a quality improvement intervention.