Elderly patients ‘often prescribed blood pressure drugs unnecessarily’

A new study has indicated that many elderly patients who are prescribed antihypertensive medication are receiving the treatment unnecessarily.

The University of Kent research looked at data from 11,167 patients over the age of 70, revealing that 1,899 people experienced some degree of low blood pressure, yet 1,246 of these were on antihypertensive medication.

Taking blood pressure-suppressing drugs when low blood pressure is already an issue puts patients at a greater risk of harmful hypotension, which is independently associated with an increased risk of mortality and hospital admissions.

It was concluded that the consequences of hypotension due to drug treatment are potentially costly to the NHS and can have a negative effect on the quality of life of older patients.

Lead author Professor Chris Farmer said: "Once medication is initiated, it is not always regularly reviewed to adjust for physiological changes associated with ageing and the effects of additional drugs."

As such, it was recommended that treatment should be reviewed in order to balance the risk and benefits, while further trials are needed to establish which older people are most likely to derive more benefit than harm from treatment.