AMELIORATION OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE IN THE ELDERLY

A study was made of the residents of Metropolitan Toronto Homes for the Aged attending the Cardiovascular Clinic of the Geriatric Center for the period 1963–1967, who had a systolic blood pressure as high as 180 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure as high as 100 mm on at least two occasions. These 183 patients were classified into two groups: (a) 100 who were treated for hypertension chiefly by thiazide drugs, and (b) 83 who were not treated for hypertension. These two groups were comparable in regard to age, blood pressure, associated diseases and causes of death. For those treated with small doses of thiazide, the mortality rate was about half the rate for the untreated group. Although the findings are based on a small sample (183 persons, 560 life-years, and 78 deaths), they suggest that even a slight reduction of high blood pressure by thiazide therapy in the elderly population studied was associated with a lower rate of mortality than in a similar group of persons who did not receive thiazides.