Longitudinal blood pressure trajectories and time to stroke among hypertensive patients: A Bayesian multivariate joint modeling study in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia

Background

Stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with hypertension being its most important modifiable risk factor. Although the association between elevated blood pressure and stroke is well established, the extent to which longitudinal blood pressure patterns influence the timing of stroke remains poorly understood, particularly in low-resource settings. We investigated the association between longitudinal systolic and diastolic blood pressure trajectories and time to stroke among hypertensive patients in Ethiopia.