The Camerano study on hypertension: the problem of arterial hypertension in the elderly.

The Camerano study on arterial hypertension (AH) was a cross-sectional study, carried out on a large population sample in a small town in central Italy. The main goal was to reveal both the prevalence and certain characteristics of AH in the population examined. The main results, can be summarized as follows: (i) The occurrence of AH in the old (65-74 years) and very old (> or = 75 years) groups was 43.3 and 57.4%, respectively. (ii) isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) was found in 1.7, 23.6 and 3.9% in the adult, old and very old subjects, respectively. (iii) The association of AH with some of the more common cardiovascular risk factors (dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, etc.) was significant for all the risk factors in the adult group, while in the old group there was a significant association only with the body mass index. (iv) Blood pressure (BP) values during the medical visits were evaluated, and adult versus old subjects were compared, but no significant differences were found.