Should we prefer different drugs to treat hypertension in older and younger adults? Practical implications of clinical trials: European perspective

Guidelines for the management of hypertension almost invariably include sections where the evidence for or against treatment or for certain types of treatment in certain types of patients is inconclusive. This is especially the case of older patients with hypertension. As a consequence, although a large number of randomized trials including hypertensive patients aged > or = 60 years showed that antihypertensive drugs reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, health care professionals who take care of older adults have been often reluctant to provide adequate antihypertensive therapy. In a recent meta-analysis, the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists' Collaboration (BPLTTC) compared the effects of different drugs for reducing blood pressure (BP) in older and younger adults; the reduction in BP levels and the relative risk reduction of a cardiovascular event with various antihypertensive drugs occurred independently of the patients' ages, and the benefits of antihypertensive regimens based on different drug classes were widely comparable across age groups. The BPLTTC analysis strongly suggests an early and aggressive management of hypertension irrespectively of age; more myocardial infarctions, strokes, heart failures and deaths will be prevented by treating hypertensive patients aged > or = 65 years than by treating patients < or = 50 years with the same BP levels. Antihypertensive treatment should be embedded within the management of global cardiovascular risk, with the use of charts for stratifying risk based on additional risk factors, target organ damage or additional clinical conditions.