Should we be treating high blood pressure in persons over 65?

In western societies blood pressure (especially systolic) tends to rise with age. The number of persons surviving to over 65 years is increasing, and thus the prevalence of hypertension will increase if the same definitions for mild, moderate, and severe disease are applied to the elderly as were applied to the middle-aged groups recruited to the hypertension trials. In the future, physicians may be called upon to treat more and more aged persons with high blood pressure.