The reduction in cardiovascular mortality and morbidity was primarily due to a reduction in cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS Treating healthy adults 60 years or older with moderate to severe systolic and /or diastolic hypertension with antihypertensive drug therapy reduced all-cause mortality , cardiovascular mortality and morbidity , cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity , and coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity .
Most evidence of benefit pertains to a primary prevention population using a thiazide as first-line treatment
BACKGROUND This is the second substantive up date of this review .
It was originally published in 1998 and was previously up date d in 2009 .
Elevated blood pressure ( known as ' hypertension ' ) increases with age - most rapidly over age 60 .
Systolic hypertension is more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease than is diastolic hypertension , and it occurs more commonly in older people .
It is important to know the benefits and harms of antihypertensive treatment for hypertension in this age group , as well as separately for people 60 to 79 years old and people 80 years or older .
The effects of blood pressure reduction in older patients: an overview of five randomized controlled trials in elderly hypertensives.
Direct evidence about the effects of antihypertensive treatment on vascular disease in older patients is available from five r and omized trials conducted exclusively in patients over the age of 60 years . These trials involved a total of 12,483 individuals with systolic or diastolic hypertension ( mean age = 72 years , mean entry blood pressure = 181/88 mmHg ) . Over an average follow-up period of 4.7 years , a 15/6 mmHg difference in blood pressure between study and control groups was achieved . Among those patients assigned active treatment , stroke incidence was reduced by 34 % SD6 and coronary heart disease incidence was reduced by 19 % SD7 . These proportional reductions were of similar size to those observed in trials in predominantly younger patients . However , the absolute benefits observed in older patients were more than twice as great as those observed in younger patients . The results suggest that over 10 years , treatment would prevent at least one major vascular event among every 10 elderly patients at similar risk to those enrolled in the trials
The reduction in cardiovascular mortality and morbidity was primarily due to a reduction in cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS Treating healthy adults 60 years or older with moderate to severe systolic and /or diastolic hypertension with antihypertensive drug therapy reduced all-cause mortality , cardiovascular mortality and morbidity , cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity , and coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity .
Most evidence of benefit pertains to a primary prevention population using a thiazide as first-line treatment
BACKGROUND This is the second substantive up date of this review .
It was originally published in 1998 and was previously up date d in 2009 .
Elevated blood pressure ( known as ' hypertension ' ) increases with age - most rapidly over age 60 .
Systolic hypertension is more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease than is diastolic hypertension , and it occurs more commonly in older people .
It is important to know the benefits and harms of antihypertensive treatment for hypertension in this age group , as well as separately for people 60 to 79 years old and people 80 years or older .