Postprandial Hypotension in the Elderly with and Without Hypertension

Abstract

To clarify the mechanism of postprandial hypotension in the elderly, blood pressure and humoral factors were measured before and after meal, water, and glucose ingestion in 20 healthy elderly. The elderly patients were divided into 10 normotensive and 10 hypertensive cases. A reduction in systolic BP after meals in the hypertensive group was significantly larger than that in the normotensive group (-12.0±4.1 vs. 4.0±3.2mmHg, p<0.05). Systolic BP in hypertensive group significantly decreased at 30, 45 and 60 minutes after meals compared to the value before meals. However, no significant reduction in systolic BP was observed in the normotensive group. A change in systolic BP after meal significantly correlated with that after glucose, but not with that after water ingestion, suggesting that glucose intake mainly contributes to the postprandial hypotension in the elderly. An increase in plasma renin activity and plasma catecholamine were observed after meals in the normotensive group, but not in the hypertensive group. An increase in systolic BP significantly correlated with an increase in PRA. It was suggested that an impairment of the sympathetic nervous system in the elderly with hypertension was involved in the mechanism of postprandial hypotension.