Control of systolic blood pressure in elderly black patients.

To study what effect the level of control of systolic blood pressure (SBP) has in elderly persons with systolic-diastolic hypertension, 503 elderly black hypertensive patients were followed up for as long as nine years. The combined rate of hospitalizations and mortality for hypertension-related disorders was significantly (P less than 0.01) higher for the group with inadequate control of SPB (mean, 183.6 mm Hg) than for the group with partial (mean, 151.2 mm Hg) or complete (mean, 131.5 mm Hg) control. The group with complete control of SBP had a significantly (P less than 0.005) higher combined rate of hospitalizations and mortality for hypertension-related disorders than did the group with partial control. This suggests that a target goal for control of systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure should be set for elderly black hypertensive patients. However, the control of SBP should not be to rigorous.