Older people benefit from intensive blood pressure control

Elderly patients would benefit from a lower target level for systolic blood pressure, research published in JAMA has found.

The randomised controlled trial found that, in over 75s, reducing blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg resulted in significantly lower rates of fatal and non-fatal major cardiovascular events and death from any cause than with a systolic blood pressure target of less than 140 mm Hg.1

The researchers analysed a subgroup of 2636 adults aged 75 or older with hypertension but without diabetes in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT). The mean …