Blood pressure pills can reduce stroke risk

High blood pressure is a top stroke risk - a factor that can, at least to a degree, be controlled. A large study shows one way to decrease your stroke risk is to take your blood pressure pills:

A large new observational study demonstrates that people who don’t take their antihypertensive medications are much more likely to have a stroke. The new study, published in the European Heart Journal, used nationwide prescription, hospital and mortality records from 73,527 hypertensive patients in Finland.

The Finnish investigators compared 26,704 patients who were hospitalized or died of stroke with 46,823 patients who did not have an event. The stroke patients were older, less educated, had lower income, and were more likely to have diabetes or cancer than controls.