The Cerebral Circulation in the Elderly: The Influence of Age, Vascular Disease, and Antihypertensive Treatment.
Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic activity tend to decrease in old age. The effect of age per se on the regulation of CBF is not readily separated from the effect of age-associated diseases such as atherosclerosis, multi-infarct dementia, and diabetes mellitus, which may lead to an impairment of CBF autoregulation. Stroke may be prevented effectively by antihypertensive treatment in otherwise healthy elderly patients, but care should be taken to prevent overtreatment with consequent cerebral ischemia. The risk of this may be especially great in elderly patients with hypertension who have postural hypotension.
Strandgaard
Svend
S
Department of Medicine and Nephrology B, Herlev Hospital, Herlev, Denmark.