Managing hypertension in older people: A guide for nurses

Globally the number of adults who have hypertension has doubled in the last 30 years and 1.28 billion adults have hypertension. Nearly half of hypertensive adults are undiagnosed and untreated.¹

Hypertension increases the risks of a number of conditions, including myocardial infarction, stroke, vascular dementia, chronic kidney disease (CKD) and heart failure.2 Even when hypertension is diagnosed significant numbers of people do not take medication as prescribed.3 Non concordance with medication can lead to under or overtreatment of hypertension. This article examines how hypertension
is diagnosed and treated;
and how to reduce antihypertensive medication when a person is overtreated.