Cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly.

Scepticism about the relevance of preventive measures against cardiovascular disease in the elderly is unjustified because there is evidence that it is possible to assuage the ravages of a lifetime of exposure to risk factors, even beginning late in life. Declines in cardiovascular mortality have occurred in the elderly as well as in the middle-aged. Risk factors that influence the occurrence of cardiovascular disease in the elderly are much the same as those that operate in middle age. The potential and demonstrated benefits of correcting the major cardiovascular risk factors in the older adult are at least as great as for the middle-aged. multivariate risk assessment facilitates the cost-effective targeting of the elderly for treatment. The correction of hypertension and dyslipidemia have been shown to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in both middle-aged and elderly age-groups. The efficacies of other measures such as lowering homocysteine and fibrinogen levels, quitting smoking, exercising or weight reduction, are not established but nevertheless such measures appear to be warranted.