Abstract
Hypertension is an important factor affecting the health of older adults. Antihypertensives can reduce stroke, cardiovascular events, and mortality in older hypertensive patients. Blood pressure management is difficult in older adults since geriatric syndromes such as frailty and comorbidities often coexist with hypertension. Recent guidelines propose taking functional status into account when targeting blood pressure in older people. Therefore, a better understanding and control of frailty risk factors could improve the prognosis of older adults with hypertension. However, there are relatively few studies on hypertension and frailty in older adults, especially studies focused on antihypertensive treatment. The goals, target values, and choice of antihypertensive treatment for frail older adults are still disputed. We reviewed the recent literature focusing on frailty and hypertension in older adults and propose a management process for screening and assessing frailty and hypertension before the use of antihypertensives. The process can support older adults with lifestyle interventions and frailty management and help them begin taking a single antihypertensive medication.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81600927), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC2002101 and 2017YFBl401202), the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation Project Award in Geriatrics and Beijing Municipal Health Commission (Jing 2019-2).
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Liu, P., Li, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Frailty and hypertension in older adults: current understanding and future perspectives. Hypertens Res 43, 1352–1360 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-020-0510-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-020-0510-5
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