The prognostic significance of isolated systolic hypertension in the elderly. Results of a ten year longitudinal survey.

A ten year longitudinal survey of 191 female elderly subjects (mean age 80--Range 61 to 100 years) was set up to demonstrate that even a moderate isolated systolic hypertension is a powerful contributor to the incidence of cardiovascular complications in the elderly. The incidence of all cardiovascular events was carefully recorded and was correlated with a number of parameters registered at entry into the study. The results show that isolated systolic hypertension as well as diastolic hypertension is significantly correlated to the incidence of strokes and myocardial infarction independently of other parameters (Blood Cholesterol, Blood Sugar) which do not appear in this population as risk factors of cardiovascular morbidity. This underlines the high interest of controlled therapeutic studies run in this field in elderly patients.