The Long-term Prognostic Significance of Repeated Blood Pressure Measurements in the Elderly

Abstract

IN INDUSTRIALIZED countries, systolic blood pressure (SBP) tends to increase with age, whereas diastolic blood pressure (DBP) increases slower and tends to plateau or even decline after the fifth decade.¹ This results in a high prevalence of hypertension, particularly isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), in the elderly. The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,¹ conducted in the United States from 1988 to 1991, found hypertension (SBP ≥140 or DBP ≥90 mm Hg) in more than half the subjects 65 years or older, the most common form being ISH (SBP ≥140 and DBP 2 Also in Italy, a study involving about 4000 elderly outpatients 65 years or older, who were selected randomly by 444 general practitioners (GPs), showed a high prevalence of hypertension: 4 in 5 had SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher and 1 in 3 had DBP of 90 mm Hg or higher, irrespective of whether they were being treated for hypertension.³