High blood pressure at old age : The Leiden 85 plus study

The last decades have shown an increasing interest in treatment of high blood pressure. Copious amounts of data have been published on the mortality and morbidity risks of high blood pressure. Overall these data have resulted in an increasing awareness of the deleterious effects of only modest elevation of blood pressure on morbidity and mortality. Moreover, treatment of high blood pressure resulted in substantial benefits in terms of reduced morbidity and mortality. This has resulted in official guidelines about treatment for hypertension that have become stricter with every decade. However, most of the evidence has been generated from middle-aged people. Only a few trials have included people of 80 year and older. [7-9] Looking at the results in detail within that age group the evidence is not robust. Given the increasing lifespan worldwide, physicians are confronted with many elderly patients over eighty. Hence, there is an increasing urge to generate more knowledge in regard to the effects of high blood pressure in the elderly.UBL - phd migration 201