When Controlling Blood Pressure, How Low is Low Enough?

Mild control of systolic blood pressure—enough to keep it below 150—is sufficient for adults 65 years or older. Further, there are no obvious benefits to adopting more aggressive drug treatments to achieve lower blood pressure, according to a recent review.

The review highlights the long-standing practice of striving to maintain blood pressure levels below 140, and the reluctance to increase that number among physicians.
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Side effects of blood pressure-lowering medications also played a large part in the discussion, as the risk of side effects increases with the amount of medication taken.

“There’s clearly a value to controlling blood pressure, enough to keep it at 150 or less,” said David Lee, PhD, and author of the study and an OSU assistant professor of pharmacy practice.

“Keeping blood pressure within acceptable levels will lower death rates. But as people get older, there’s less clear evidence that stringent control of systolic blood pressure is as important,” he said.

Moving forward, the researchers proposed the need for more studies conducted with older adult populations that uses individualized treatments, which would evaluate a participant’s entire state of health, compared to generalized treatment based on findings from large cohort groups.

The complete review is published in the November issue of Drugs and Aging.

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Oregon State University. “Mild” control of systolic blood pressure in older adults is adequate: 150 is good enough. November 3, 2014. http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2014/nov/“mild”-control-systolic-blood-pressure-older-adults-adequate-150-good-enough. Accessed November 7, 2014.