Via practica 10/2008

HYPERTENSION – TREATMENT IN THE ELDERLY

The number of people over age 65 is rapidly increasing, and in less than 50 years, one of every three people in Czech Republic will be older than 65. Blood pressure, particularly systolic blood pressure, tends to increase progressively with age. Elderly people with hypertension have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. The benefits of treating hypertension in the elderly have recently been documented. The choice of antihypertensive therapy should be based on the presence of concomitant conditions and should by individualized. First-line therapy are diuretics, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers and calcium channel blockers. Therapy should begin with small doses and then slowly increased. The elderly often take multiple medications, some of which (e.g., non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs) interact with many antihypertensive drugs.

Keywords: hypertension, elderly people, treatment.