Aims: To determine the correlation between blood pressure and clinical improvement status of patients with an acute ischemic stroke which measures using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Methods: A cross-sectional was used in this research. Participants of the study were patients with acute ischemic stroke in Seruni room, Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya, Indonesia. Blood pressure measurements are classified according to JNC7, while improvement in clinical severity is defined using NIHSS. Data were analysed using SPSS version V.23 with significances of p<0.05. Results: There were 60 participants with 51 hypertension patients (85%). From all participants, we found that about 36 patients (60%) showed NIHSS improvement. The Chi-Square correlation test analysis indicates a significant correlation between hypertension and improvement in the degree of clinical severity (p=0.045, RR at 6.571) 95% CI (0.765-56.469). Conclusion: There is a correlation between blood pressure and clinical severity improvement as measured using the NIHSS.

Keywords : Acute Ischemic Stroke; Hypertension; Indonesia; Measurement of Severity Level: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale