The researchers looked at patients age 65 or older with hypertension who were admitted to a Veterans Affairs hospital with noncardiac conditions between 2011 and 2013.
Among 14,915 older adults, 9,636 (65 percent) had well controlled blood pressure before hospital admission. The study found 2,074 (14 percent) patients were discharged with intensified treatment for high blood pressure, more than half of whom had well-controlled blood pressure before being admitted to the hospital.
Since the study revealed higher inpatient blood pressure was strongly linked to being discharged on intensified blood pressure regimens, hospitals must pay more attention to reducing potentially harmful blood pressure overtreatment as older adults move from the hospital to home, the researchers said.
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