What is Systolic Hypertension Of The Elderly?
A. Most people with high blood pressure have elevations of both systolic and diastolic pressure, but in many older people the systolic pressure may be high (above 160 mm Hg) while the diastolic is quite normal or low (below 90). This is referred to as isolated systolic hypertension, and affects about twenty per cent of people over the age of seventy. It used to be thought that the diastolic pressure is more important than the systolic, but this is wrong, and in fact the systolic pressure is more important in predicting your risk. The mechanism underlying systolic hypertension is different from the mechanism of the hypertension which occurs in younger people. As we grow older, our arteries grow stiffer, and lose their elasticity. When the heart pumps blood into the aorta (the large artery leaving the heart) of a young person, it expands to accommodate the extra volume of blood, which means that the pressure only goes up by a moderate amount.
