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 .
Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in mild hypertension: the Australian Trial.
The Australian Therapeutic Trial in Mild Hypertension was a controlled trial in which mildly hypertensive patients , aged between 35 and 65 years ( diastolic blood pressure 95 - 109 ) were r and omly assigned to take antihypertensive drugs or matched placebos  for periods of up to 6 years . The overall data showed that the treated group had a lower incidence of both death and of nonfatal cardiovascular events . The differences in the incidence of noncardiovascular deaths did not differ significantly between the two groups . Univariate analysis of possible prognostic factors at the time of entry into the study showed a higher incidence of trial endpoints -- mostly events due to ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease -- in older subjects , men , cigarette smokers and those with higher systolic blood pressures , and in thinner subjects than in others . There was a lower incidence of these events in actively treated persons than in control subjects at each level of incidence of each covariate measured . Treatment benefit was greatest in persons with lower systolic blood pressures and lower serum cholesterol levels . Multivariate regression analyses confirmed that the incidence of trial endpoints increased with age and with systolic blood pressures . There was a higher incidence in smokers than in nonsmokers , especially in those with low body weights . Treatment benefited thin smokers most , and the effects of treatment seemed to be reduced in those with higher serum cholesterol levels . There was a substantial fall in blood pressure in many of the placebo group
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 .