Arterial hypertension in elderly patients
2014
Why do we need a review specifically addressing arterial
hypertension in elderly patients? First, a rterial
hypertension prevalence increases with age and, therefore,
a large proportion of hypertensive patients are
elderly patients. Despite this fact, the specific issues of
arterial hypertension in elderly patients are only marginally
debated in current guidelines. Second, there are
physiological changes (e.g., i ncreasing arterial stiffness,
reduced body water content, decreased function of
several organ systems) and pathophysiological changes
(e.g. increasing prevalence of comorbidities) with increasing
age, making diagnosis and therapy of arterial
hypertension in elderly patients more demanding.
Third, f or some recommendations (e.g., a ppropriate
target blood pressure) levels of evidence are lower than
in younger hypertensive patients, leading to conflicting
recommendations between guidelines. This review intends
to discuss some of the specific issues in elderly
patients with arterial hypertension.
Key words: hypertension; elderly; guidelines; geriatric
assessment
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