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 .
Body mass index and prognosis in elderly hypertensive patients: a report from the European Working Party on High Blood Pressure in the Elderly.
Obesity and hypertension are often found in the same patients , particularly in elderly women . However , few data on the joint impact of these two conditions in women and the elderly are available . In the current study of 800 elderly hypertensive patients r and omly assigned to active treatment or placebo , the initial mean body mass index ( BMI ) was 26.7 kg/m2 in 560 women and 25.7 kg/m2 in 240 men . During the trial , total mortality and cardiovascular and noncardiovascular terminating events were highest in the patients at the leanest BMI quintile . The association between BMI and cardiovascular end points was U-shaped , whereas noncardiovascular mortality decreased with increasing BMI . The results in the women were similar to those in the total group . The U-shaped relation was confirmed with Cox 's proportional hazards model , controlling for age , gender , systolic blood pressure , hemoglobin , serum cholesterol , blood glucose , and cardiovascular complications at entry . The BMI level with the lowest risk was 28 to 29 kg/m2 for total mortality and cardiovascular terminating events , 26 to 27 kg/m2 for cardiovascular mortality , and 31 to 32 kg/m2 for noncardiovascular mortality . BMI did not modify the favorable effects of drug treatment . There was no evidence that obesity would protect elderly hypertensive men or women from cardiovascular complications
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 .