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 .
Compliance to treatment for hypertension in elderly patients: the SHEP pilot study. Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program.
Assessing the compliance of people over 60 years of age and older with an antihypertensive treatment regimen was a major objective of the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program ( SHEP ) pilot study . The study r and omized 551 men and women over the age of 60 ( mean age = 72 years ) to a stepped care treatment that included chlorthalidone or placebo in a double-blind trial . Three measures of compliance to treatment protocol --pill count , self-report , and a urine chlorthalidone assay -- all indicated high levels of compliance in 80 to 90 % of participants at 3 months and 1 year after r and omization . Pill-taking compliance was similar in the active and placebo groups , although the rate of discontinuance from study medications at 1 year was higher in the placebo than in the active group . Compliance was high in all age categories , including those over age 80 . These data suggest that elderly patients can achieve high levels of compliance with antihypertensive medications
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 .