Bansal, B CAgarwal, A KRewari, B B1999-06-252009-05-311999-06-252009-05-311999-06-25Bansal BC, Agarwal AK, Rewari BB. Hypertension and cerebrovascular disease. Journal of the Indian Medical Association. 1999 Jun; 97(6): 226-32http://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/10470232 references.Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is the third leading cause of death in United States and hypertension is a leading cause of both stroke and heart disease. It may cause headache, acute hypertensive encephalopathy, dementia and various types of strokes e.g., thrombotic, haemorrhagic, lacunar infarcts and transient ischaemic attacks. It remains the singlemost important treatable risk factor for stroke in all age groups and modern antihypertensive therapy has its documented prevention of stroke. Hypertension in acute phase of ischaemic stroke should not be treated. Hypertension in acute stroke should be treated. In advanced centres with specialised stroke units, the favoured drugs are short acting vasodilators e.g., sodium nitroprusside and labetalol. Nifedipine is the most popular drug followed by captopril, both sublingually and orally.engAgedAntihypertensive Agents --therapeutic useCerebrovascular Disorders --drug therapyFemaleHumansHypertension --complicationsMaleMiddle AgedPractice Guidelines as TopicProspective StudiesRecurrenceRisk FactorsStroke --etiologyComparative Study