Even frail, older adults could benefit from intensive blood pressure reduction

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/uouh-efo051816.php

Public Release: 19-May-2016
Even frail, older adults could benefit from intensive blood pressure reduction
University of Utah Health Sciences

Adults with hypertension who are age 75 years and older, including those who are frail and with poor overall health, could benefit from lowering their blood pressure below current medical guidelines. The multi-institutional investigation was published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and presented at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting on May 19

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Detailed analysis of SPRINT participants age 75 and older now shows that the major benefits of lowering blood pressure carry over to this age group, including the medically fragile. Intensive blood pressure lowering resulted in 33 percent fewer cases of cardiovascular events (3.85 vs. 2.59 percent) and 32 percent fewer deaths (2.63 vs. 1.78 percent). Grouping the study population by frailty status showed that while the most frail patients have higher rates of heart disease and death, these rates were similarly lowered by tighter blood pressure control (3.9 vs. 5.8 percent for heart disease and 2.95 vs. 4.28 for death).

Further, intensive blood pressure treatment did not significantly increase risk for injurious falls and other serious side effects among the frail group.

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