Over the past 20 years, more older Americans are ending up in the hospital because of dangerously high blood pressure.
This is surprising and worrying, especially since there have been many efforts to help people manage their blood pressure.
Researchers at Yale University looked at health records from the last two decades to see if hospital visits for sudden spikes in blood pressure were going down. Unfortunately, they found the opposite.
Older adults, especially those aged 65 and above, are being hospitalized more often. In fact, the number of hospital visits for very high blood pressure in this age group more than doubled between 1999 and 2019. This data comes from Medicare, which is the U.S. government’s health insurance for people over 65.
One of the most concerning parts of the study is the racial difference. From 2017 to 2019, Black Americans were three times more likely than others to be hospitalized for a high blood pressure emergency.
These emergencies are serious—they happen when blood pressure rises so high that it can quickly lead to heart attacks, strokes, or other life-threatening problems.
The South is another area of concern. People living in the southeastern U.S. had more hospitalizations. Doctors call this region the “stroke belt” because strokes happen more often there than in other parts of the country.
What is high blood pressure? It’s when the force of your blood pushing against your artery walls is too high. You can’t feel it, but it can do a lot of damage over time. Doctors check your blood pressure using two numbers.
The top number, called systolic, shows the pressure when your heart beats. The bottom number, called diastolic, shows the pressure when your heart is resting. Blood pressure is high if the top number is 130 or more, or the bottom number is 80 or more.
If you or someone you care about has high blood pressure, it’s important to take it seriously. Left untreated, it can lead to heart disease, stroke, and kidney problems. Doctors often recommend medication, but diet and lifestyle changes can also help. Some studies say that drinking beetroot juice or eating more plant-based foods can lower blood pressure.
This study is a warning. Even with modern medicine and health campaigns, we still haven’t solved the problem. Older adults and Black Americans are still being hospitalized too often for high blood pressure emergencies. We need to do more to understand why this is happening and how to help people stay healthy and out of the hospital.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about This alcohol treatment could help treat high blood pressure and How blood pressure changes with age.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about Intensive blood pressure treatment for older adults may harm heart and kidneys and What you should know about high blood pressure medications.
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