Clinical Medicine Reviews in Vascular Health

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Controlling hypertension is known to be the most important treatment in preventing stroke. Reduction of blood pressure (BP) even below the normal range continues to reduce stroke risk. However, there are also thought to be blood pressure-independent effects of antihypertensive treatments, which differ between antihypertensive classes. Calcium channel blocker, amlodipine, and angiotensin receptor blocker, valsartan, represent the two antihypertensive drugs with supportive evidence for the prevention of stroke. Amlodipne and valsartan have favorable effects on stroke outcome as monotherapy, particularly in patients with high cardiovascular risk. There has been no study in which evaluated the effectiveness of the combination of these two agents, however, the combination of amlodipine and valsartan is well tolerated and the large BP reductions with this combination therapy would suggest that this might be an effective approach for stroke prevention.