Abstract:
Background: the benefits of blood pressure (BP) lowering are well established except in the oldest old, and suboptimal control of hypertension has been found in many different populations. Objective: to assess the frequency of hypertension and its adequacy of management in the oldest old in primary care. Design: a cross-sectional study. Setting: sixty-seven general practitioners (GPs) in three urban centres in New Zealand. Methods: we conducted structured reviews of medical records for all ambulatory people aged ≥80 years who were registered with a participating GP. Hypertensive status and BP control were classified according to standard criteria. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent factors for BP control.