Hypertension in the elderly: new and old evidence that treatment may benefit the old.

Hypertension is prevalent and remains an important risk factor in elderly and very elderly. Randomized controlled outcome trials have shown benefit of antihypertensive treatment in patients with systolic diastolic hypertension and in patients with isolated systolic hypertension, aged 60 years and over. More recently benefit has also been shown in octogenerians with hypertension. Overall there is no strong evidence that protection against major cardiovascular events afforded by different drug classes varies substantially with age. Finally, blood pressure lowering therapy also improves prognosis in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes.