PROGRESS: Prevention of recurrent stroke

The Perindopril Protection Against Recurrent Stroke Study (PROGRESS) was a randomized placebo-controlled trial which clearly demonstrated that perindopril-based blood pressure (BP)-lowering treatment is one of the most effective and generalizable strategies for secondary prevention of stroke. Beneficial effects of BP lowering were observed on recurrent stroke, other cardiovascular events, disability, dependency, and cognitive function across a variety of subgroups defined by age, sex, geographical region, body mass index, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, and baseline BP levels. Once patients with stroke have stabilized, all patients should receive BP-lowering therapy irrespective of their BP levels. On the basis of recommendations from current international guidelines, BP should be lowered to <140/90mmHg in all patients with cerebrovascular disease and to <130/80mmHg if therapy is well tolerated.