title: Blood pressure and mortality in elderly people aged 85 and older: community based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether the inverse relation between blood pressure and all cause mortality in elderly people over 85 years of age can be explained by adjusting for health status, and to determine whether high blood pressure is a risk factor for mortality when the effects of poor health are accounted for.
  
  
  METHODS
  5 to 7 year follow up of community residents aged 85 years and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  Leiden, the Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  835 subjects whose blood pressure was recorded between 1987 and 1989.
  
  
  METHODS
  All cause mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An inverse relation between blood pressure and all cause mortality was observed. For diastolic blood pressure crude 5 year all cause mortality decreased from 88% (52/59) (95% confidence interval 79% to 95%) in those with diastolic blood pressures <65 mm Hg to 59% (27/46) (44% to 72%) in those with diastolic pressures >100 mm Hg. For systolic blood pressure crude 5 year all cause mortality decreased from 85% (95/112) (78% to 91%) in those with systolic pressures <125 mm Hg to 59% (13/22) (38% to 78%) in those with systolic pressures >200 mm Hg. This decrease was no longer significant after adjustment for indicators of poor health. No relation existed between blood pressure and mortality from cardiovascular causes or stroke after adjustment for age and sex, but after adjustment for age, sex, and indicators of poor health there was a positive relation between diastolic blood pressure and mortality from both cardiovascular causes and stroke.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The inverse relation between blood pressure and all cause mortality in elderly people over 85 is associated with health status.
authors.affiliation: TNO Prevention and Health, Division of Public Health and Prevention, Leiden, Netherlands. HC.Boshuizen@PG.TNO.NL
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Boshuizen
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Izaks
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Buuren
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ligthart
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014504:Urban Health