Does antihypertensive treatment increase the risk of serious adverse events in older and frail patients?
The risk of serious adverse events from antihypertensive treatment may offset the potential benefits in older and frail patients, suggesting caution and consideration of alternative blood pressure management strategies in this population.
Antihypertensive treatment was associated with serious adverse events. Overall, the absolute risk of this harm was low, with the exception of older patients and those with moderate to severe frailty, where the risks were similar to the likelihood of benefit from treatment. In these populations, physicians may want to consider alternative approaches to management of blood pressure and refrain from prescribing new treatment.
Sheppard et al. (2023) studied this question.