Falls among older people: relationship to medication use and orthostatic hypotension.

Objective: To assess the risk of falls attributable to medication use and orthostatic hypotension.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Two self-care, apartment-style residential facilities in the Toronto area.

Report of the Canadian Hypertension Society Consensus Conference: 4. Hypertension in the elderly.

Several knowledge gaps, which made evidence-based guidelines impossible in 1985, have since been filled. There is now unequivocal evidence that treatment of isolated systolic hypertension benefits elderly patients, as does treatment beyond the age of 75 years. Pseudohypertension, although occasionally problematic, is not common and is not a reason to neglect the treatment of elderly patients, including those with isolated systolic hypertension.