Pharmacological management of hypertension in elderly
patients
When lifestyle measures fail to lower BP to goal, pharmacotherapy
should be initiated. The safety and efficacy
of multiple medication classes has been studied in elderly
patients over the last 30 years. Randomized controlled trials
have consistently demonstrated that antihypertensive
therapy in the elderly is effective in preventing total mortality,
stroke and coronary events[5]. Another important
consideration is that for most trials, the goal and achieved
bp are higher than that recommended by JNC-7, while
still showing a significant benefit of treatment.
General principles of pharmacological management:
There is often a debate about which antihypertensive
drug class should be used first in elderly patients with hypertension.
Several classes of antihypertensive drugs are
effective in preventing cardiovascular events. Treatment
decisions should be guided by the presence of compelling
indications such as diabetes mellitus, stroke or HF and
by the tolerability of individual drugs or drug combinations.
The initial antihypertensive drug should be started
at the lowest dose and gradually increased depending
on the BP response to the maximum tolerated dose[31].
If the antihypertensive response to the initial drug is
inadequate after reaching full dose, a second drug from
another class should be added. If the antihypertensive
response in inadequate after reaching the full dose of 2
classes of drugs, a third drug from another class should
be added[31].