People over 60 who suffer from high blood pressure receive the least lifestyle advice from their doctors of all age groups, a large-scale study suggests.

Lifestyle advice includes recommending a patient adopt healthier eating habits, consume less salt — which can increase blood pressure — drink less alcohol and increase exercise.

High blood pressure is more than 140 mm Hg for the systolic reading and over 90 mm Hg for the diastolic reading, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
(CBC)

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill looked at data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control gleaned through a national survey of 28,457 people over the age of 18 who had high blood pressure.

Participants were asked over the phone whether they had been told by a medical professional that they have high blood pressure, as well as other questions pertaining to the type of medical advice given.

The study's findings are published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

Just over half (53.7 per cent) of patients over age 60 reported getting advice about healthier eating from their doctors — compared to 71.2 per cent of those aged 40 to 59 and 64.9 per cent of those aged aged 18 to 39, the study found.

And 35.1 per cent of those 60 and over said they had been told by their doctors to reduce their alcohol intake, versus 48.9 per cent of those aged 40 to 59 and 43.3 per cent of those aged 19 to 39.

"My sense is not that physicians feel that it is too late for patients 60 years and older to change," the study's lead author, Anthony Viera, told CBCNews.ca on Friday. "We do know that motivating any patient — younger or older — to adopt lifestyle changes can be a challenge.

"What I want patients and physicians to remember is that lifestyle modifications are part of the management of high blood pressure for all hypertension patients — including the elderly and those already taking blood pressure medications."

Viera said there is evidence showing that lifestyle interventions are effective in older people — namely the TONE trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998. "That particular study showed that weight loss and reduced sodium intake are effective and safe ways to help older patients with high blood pressure, with an approximately 30 per cent reduction in the need for blood pressure medication," he said.

The study found that overall, 90.3 per cent of patients in the study did receive some form of lifestyle advice, with 74.6 per cent being told to exercise, 69.3 per cent told to limit salt, 61.9 per cent counselled to change their eating patterns and 43.5 per cent advised to curb their consumption of alcohol.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, almost one-quarter of Canadian adults, or about five million, have hypertension. An acceptable blood pressure is less than 140 mm Hg for the systolic reading and under 90 mm Hg for the diastolic reading (mm Hg is a measurement that is short for millimetres of mercury).

For people with diabetes or kidney disease, an acceptable blood pressure is less than 130 mm Hg for the systolic reading and less than 80 mm Hg for the diastolic reading.