Hypertension and its treatment in the elderly.

Controlled trials have demonstrated the protective effect of antihypertensive drug therapy in subjects over 60 years of age. Elderly patients are often peculiarly sensitive to the side-effects of some antihypertensive drugs, which must therefore be deployed with especial care in this age-group. The widely-supposed differential benefits and acceptability of various drug classes in the elderly have been shown to have been inferred often from inadequate evidence. These aspects require further study. The already large elderly hypertensive population will continue to expand, thus raising important, problematic, but rewarding, therapeutic and economic issues.