A 15 years study of the causes of death among elderly hypertensive patients in a hospital-based sample of China

We aim to retrospectively analyze the causes of death in elderly inpatients with hypertension in a hospital-based population in China. During the study period of over 15 years, a total of 2314 cases of death in 19,996 hospitalized hypertensive patients with the age of 60 years or older were documented. The three leading causes of death were disease of heart (45.2%), cerebrovascular disease (34.3%) and renal failure (11.9%), accounting for more than 90% of death from all causes. Gender, age, stage of hypertension and risk stratification is associated with the constituent ratios of the causes of death.