(Steven Reinberg/ HealthDay News) — Blood pressure drugs help even the most frail elderly live longer, and older people who are healthier get the biggest benefit, Italian researchers say.
“We knew that high blood pressure medication was protective in general among older people, however, we focused on whether it is also protective in frail patients with many other medical conditions who are usually excluded from randomized trials,” said lead author Dr. Giuseppe Mancia, professor emeritus at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan.
For the study, his team collected data from more than one million people aged 65 and older in northern Italy who had received three or more blood pressure medication prescriptions.
The investigators also looked at the outcomes of older people with a variety of health conditions.
For those in good health at the outset of the study, the probability of death over seven years was 16%. That rose to 64% for patients who were in very poor health. (…)