question and answer
No escaping history
August 2011
In the components of CHADS2 risk score for stroke risk in atrial fibrillation, which is more important — the absolute blood pressure (systolic BP > 160 mm Hg) or the history of hypertension (even though it might have been treated)? Malvinder S. Parmar, MD, Timmins, ON
The trials do not evaluate this concept, though it certainly makes clinical sense that well-treated blood pressure has a lower stroke rate. But strictly speaking, in the Chads scoring system, it’s a history of hypertension that earns a point, whether treated or not, and the current pressure is not taken into account.
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