A Random Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Trial: Remote Ischemic Conditioning and Hypertension

Nowadays, the incidence of stroke in China has reached 1.6‰, and this disease has became a primary cause of death in China. One of its major risk factors is hypertension. As shown in the researches, the risk of stroke grows remarkably when the blood pressure increases and there exists a log-linear relationship between them. Systolic pressure and diastolic pressure relate to the risk of stroke independently. Systolic pressure decreasing 10mmHg will reduce the stroke risk by 31% and decrease of 1~3mmHg will reduce the stroke risk by 20~30%. As to diastolic pressure, 5mmHg decrease of it will reduce the stroke risk by 34% and 10mmHg decrease of it will reduce the stroke risk by 56%. In addition, patients with isolated systolic hypertension (SPB≥160mmHg, DPB≤90mmHg) or critical isolated systolic hypertension (SPB=140~159mmHg, DPB< 90mmHg) will suffer a higher risk of stroke than people with normal blood pressure. The ACC has already revised its Hypertension Management Guidelines of standard of diagnosis for hypertension and timing of starting medical treatment in hypertensive patients.Because more and more reseaches shown that people with blood pressure between 120-139/80-89mmHg have higher risk of ASCVSD compared to those with blood pressure lower than 120/80mmHg; However, in China, the diagnostic criteria for hypertension has not been revised yet. Therefore, we still have blind spot in treating such patients who suffer from borderline systolic hypertension at 130~140 mmHg of blood pressure with or without ASCVD or those with the first stage hypertension but refusing to take anti-hypertension drugs. What is more, most of them are middle-aged adults, once they have stroke, it would lead terrible and costly consequences to both their family and the society. Thus, it is necessary to explore new non-pharmacological methods to control blood pressure for reducing the risk of stroke.