Early lowering of blood pressure in patients with acute intracerebral haemorrhage reduces bleeding but is not associated with better functional outcomes at 90 days, a study shows.

The benefit appears to be confined to reducing the volume of haematomas 24 hours after the intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), according to the systematic review and meta-analysis.

The review, which included a range of approaches to blood pressure (BP) lowering, points to alpha- and beta-blockers as perhaps being the agents most likely to provide benefit, and titrated BP-lowering rather than a fixed dose as being the most promising approach.

Professor Craig Anderson, of the George Institute for Global Health at UNSW Sydney, led the international team of researchers that carried out a meta-analysis of pooled individual patient data from 16 high-quality randomised controlled trials of BP lowering within seven days of ICH.