Hypertension in elderly

Hypertension is a common problem encountered in day to day practice by physicians and often termed as “silent killer” because patients with mild to moderate disease are often asymptomatic. By the time symptoms appear due to organ damage, therapeutic options remain limited.A clinical diagnosis of hypertension is established by demonstrating a systolic blood pressure (SBP) >140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >90 mmHg on at least 2 occasions as summarized in “The Seventh Report of Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure”.1 However the usual definition of hypertension and target BP levels might not be applicable to the elderly hypertensive population. Also criteria for categorizing BP vary and have not been further characterized for the elderly.