Cerebrovascular Disease

1.3 Hypertension. An understanding of the major risk factors is important because it aids in the identification of the patient who is most likely to develop cerebral infarction and in some cases suggests ways to reduce the risk of the first stroke (primary prevention). A powerful treatable risk factor of hypertension. Both diastolic and systolic hypertension are related to stroke. The Framingham study showed that even mild hypertension (and recently left ventricular mass) is associated with a relative risk of about 1.5. Treatment of hypertension reduces stroke risk.