Arterial hypertension: Which targets in over-75-year people?

Abstract

Arterial hypertension has always been considered the main risk factor in cardiovascular prevention. However, the goals of anti-hypertensive treatment (targets) in the elderly has long been under discussion. The results of the studies in favor of the hypothesis "the lower the better" than those that argue against the existence of the phenomenon of the J-curve, that is, the hypothesis according which, mortality increases when blood pressure values are lower than 115/75 mmHg, are still controversial. However, in elderly patients the association between blood pressure lowering and increased cardiovascular events seems to depend on the general health status, that means the presence of comorbidity, frailty and / or disability. Recent data from the SPRINT study show that the benefit of an intensive blood pressure target (SBP <120 mmHg) compared to a usual target (SBP <140 mmHg), appears to be greater in the oldest hypertensive patients (≥75 years). The cardio-geriatric functional assessment can provide useful information to better stratify the elderly and to define more accurately individual pressure targets.