Posted on 03/22/2026 5:51:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
For years, turning 65 with a blood pressure reading above 130 meant one thing: medication.
A new analysis of the 2025 American Heart Association guidelines shows that this practice is changing, finding that roughly 10 percent of older adults previously flagged for treatment may no longer meet the criteria, a move experts say prevents overtreatment, but one that carries its own risks.
The 2025 guidelines marked a significant departure from the 2017 AHA guidelines, which recommended treatment for all adults over 65 with blood pressure at or above 130/80 mmHg.
The updated 2025 guidelines replace that blanket approach with one that weighs a patient’s 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, offering what experts describe as a more personalized lens on heart health.
Under the new framework, immediate medication is no longer recommended based only on age and blood pressure levels, but also with consideration of the individual’s other cardiovascular risk factors. This translates to around 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 65 with early hypertension who would no longer being recommended medication.
More than 70 million Americans are currently taking medication to lower their blood pressure and reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke. However, these drugs can sometimes cause side effects like dizziness, fatigue, and kidney problems, making the question of who truly needs treatment a consequential one.
Researchers analyzed data from 2,200 adults aged 65 to 79 with high blood pressure. They compared two groups: one that received treatment based on the 2017 guidelines, and another based on the current ones, which are guided by each person’s overall health risk profile.
They found that around 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 65 with Stage 1 hypertension would no longer be recommended medication, provided that they are otherwise healthy with no other cardiovascular risk factors.
Stage 1 hypertension is defined by blood pressure readings of 130 to 139 mmHg systolic or 80 to 89 mmHg diastolic.
The study also found that about 40 percent of older adults with high blood pressure could benefit from treatment that considers their overall health risks, not just their blood pressure numbers. This risk-guided approach could prevent overmedication of patients and thereby shield more patients from the potential side effects of blood pressure medication, while still reducing cardiovascular disease risk.
“The art now is to match the intensity of treatment to both global cardiovascular risk and the patient’s blood pressure, rather than chasing a number at all costs and treating all older patients with a ‘one size fits all’ approach,” Dr. Carolyn Lam, senior consultant cardiologist at the National Heart Center of Singapore and co-founder of AI medtech platform Us2.ai, told The Epoch Times.
In older adults, the concerns with over-aggressive blood pressure lowering include dizziness, falls, fractures, and acute kidney injury, especially in those who are frail or have chronic kidney disease, Lam noted.
The risk-guided approach, she explained, concentrates intensive treatment where the absolute benefit is greatest—typically in patients with diabetes, kidney disease, or multiple cardiometabolic risks—while avoiding unnecessary polypharmacy in lower-risk patients.
“Done well, this can reduce heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure, yet also help preserve independence and quality of life in later years,” Lam said.
“Many of these people are fragile,” he pointed out, and have blood pressure that goes up and down in a way that can be difficult to predict.
“Some of them have periods where their blood pressures go very low on their own, and then the blood pressure medication is quite difficult to use because you’re trying to abolish the high values, but you don’t want them to be exposed to low [blood pressure] values,” he said.
However, Kowey also warned that the report may have the unintended consequence of reducing treatment for those who really need it.
“I have a big problem with this,” he said. “It’s very analogous to what we’ve done with statins and LDL.”
He compared the new model for prescribing antihypertensive drugs to the risk models applied from previous guidelines on statin prescription statins and LDLs, which reduced the number of Americans that would once be candidates for statin medication by up to 40 percent.
Because the new risk model requires considering all relevant risk factors for treating high blood pressure, Kowey said a primary care doctor who is not savvy enough or doesn’t have enough time to do all the risk assessments is likely to get the wrong message.
“Which is, ‘well, I don’t have to treat this guy or this lady,’ and I think that could be a big trap,” he warned.
Kowey emphasized that he would very much not want primary care doctors to be, in the 10 minutes that they have spent with a patient, “sitting there wringing their hands about whether they should treat a blood pressure of 160 over 100 because of the risk factor issue.”
He concluded that the big challenge isn’t getting people off medications—“The big challenge here is finding all the people out there that need to be treated and giving them something that works, and that they can tolerate.”
I think that the shuffle must be a natural progression of aging.
I have to try to make a conscious effort to maintain a “normal” stride absent the shuffle.
Latest info is that it is age related. The older you get, the more low BP becomes a problem. They key is to keep weight normal and always be moving.
I don’t take any other meds so interactions aren’t a concern.
My wife is doing some naturopathic post cancer treatments. Lot’s of supplements prescribed by her naturopathic oncologist and others by an integrative oncologist. They both work out of the same office and share notes.
We both have a healthy distrust of the medical establishment. The runaround she got from her medical oncologist was amazing. They wanted her to take a post operative drug that was guaranteed to cause strokes, but did great at preventing future cancer, so in their twisted mentality that’s a win.
Hard No.
23% of yout chloresterol in the brain. If Lipitor (or your choice of stain) crosses the blood barrier, which happens, it causes brain malfunction like senility. I have a friend losing his memory/mind and I told him to stop the statins to see if it helps. He’s scared because the doctor told him he’ll die of a heart attack without it. I quit seeing him because I hated to see him deteriorating.
I took a blood test a couple of years ago at 73 years old.
I get a call from the nurse telling me my vitamin D was too high as well as my PSA had elevated a bit since my last blood test and I needed to see an urologist.
Well I upped my Vitamin D3 to 5000 IU during the scamdemic and I wasn’t having any noticeable effects so I kept taking that dose.
As far as my PSA goes it was right on the margins as I declined seeing an urologist.
At my next yearly exam, I declined taking blood tests.
A couple of weeks ago I ran across a You Tube video talking about screenings for the 75 and over.
A lot of it rang true for me.
The 5 Medical Checkups I Would NEVER Get After 70 (even potentially harmful) by the You Tuber, InsidetheFeeling.
It balance.
I still go over to my local gym a couple times a week and spend a half an hour on the stairmaster. I can lift four bags of groceries up stairs. I lift weights a couple times a week but the weights are low. I’m trying to exercise muscles that otherwise don’t get exercise but if I pushed them very hard would injure. (it does not take much to injure them.)
I don’t do enough walking. or stretching.
You are allergic to ACE Inhibitors. My wife and are both allergic. It makes you cough. Tell your doctor you need to be on an ARB.
After age 70, many routine screenings can lead to more harm than benefit due to overdiagnosis, unnecessary procedures (biopsies, surgeries, treatments), complications (infection, bleeding, anesthesia risks, reduced quality of life), and slow disease progression that people often outlive anyway. The risk-benefit ratio changes with age, frailty, and limited life expectancy. Guidelines (like USPSTF) often recommend stopping or questioning these in older adults.
Always consult your doctor for personalized advice—this is general educational information only, not medical advice.
Here are the five checkups Dr. Trask would seriously question, decline, or avoid after 70 (unless symptoms, strong family history, or other specific reasons apply):
Key takeaways:
I have had BP as low as 100 over 60, But often at the doctor’s office it would be around 130/75. Then I learned that talking raises blood pressure and listening lowers it. Now when I go in I try to avoid talking until after that measure and am always in the 120s. Age 86 last time measured. Live in a 4 story house, kitchen and laundry in the basement, bathroom on second, and friend on the 3rd floor. Stairs are my exercise. For the past 50 year I have been studying supplements, and at this point take quite a few morning and evening.
Assigned Levothyroxin which I don’t always remember to take. Try to eat mostly very healthy foods. Small servings of something sweet my only indulgence. After last Thanksgiving I bought a large pecan pie on sale. I ate a small piece daily for 3 weeks. Levo is my only medication, everything else is supplements. I can still jog 100 feet to catch the bus. Over the years I have added supplements as I researched new symptoms to fix, which has always worked.
During the first 10 years after I started studying and using supplements, I read about 20 books on therapeutic nutrition. Back then my Gynochologist when I asked about a few things I was taking said, “I don’t know much about supplements, but you seem fine and I see you regularly, so can tell you if anything seems to be a problem.” My current GP would probably be shocked if he knew how many different ones I was taking, but I experiment with many different ones. When I told my opthalmologist I had improved my Cataracts by about 70 to 80% by adding 5 supplements to my routine, his only comment was a scornful one, “they have not done any double blind studies on those supplements.” Who does double blind studies on 5 supplements at the same time? My previous Opth. had increased the spacing on my regular driving eye exam from one to two years. If the new guy is still around, I am afraid he may cut me back to 1 year for spite. Three years ago, I grew back up one inch. I think it may have been one or more of those cataract helping supplements. Twenty years ago I was 5’5”, I shrunk down to 5’3” and was stable there for about 10 years after adding boron and other items. A year ago, I was still 5’4”. Need to have my annual physical soon, will see then if I have grown some more or remained stable. I have never told my most recent assigned GP what supplements I am taking.
I need to get a legal statement requiring a hospital to let me arrange my own supplements. I think a hospital killed my best friend because they would not let her take the supplements she had added to her cancer treatment that along with chemo were shrinking the tumors as they had done with my brother’s metastatic liver cancer. Unfortunately his 4th Covid shot quickly had him on a fast slide to death.
I have had BP as low as 100 over 60, But often at the doctor’s office it would be around 130/75. Then I learned that talking raises blood pressure and listening lowers it. Now when I go in I try to avoid talking until after that measure and am always in the 120s. Age 86 last time measured. Live in a 4 story house, kitchen and laundry in the basement, bathroom on second, and friend on the 3rd floor. Stairs are my exercise. For the past 50 year I have been studying supplements, and at this point take quite a few morning and evening.
Assigned Levothyroxin which I don’t always remember to take. Try to eat mostly very healthy foods. Small servings of something sweet my only indulgence. After last Thanksgiving I bought a large pecan pie on sale. I ate a small piece daily for 3 weeks. Levo is my only medication, everything else is supplements. I can still jog 100 feet to catch the bus. Over the years I have added supplements as I researched new symptoms to fix, which has always worked.
During the first 10 years after I started studying and using supplements, I read about 20 books on therapeutic nutrition. Back then my Gynochologist when I asked about a few things I was taking said, “I don’t know much about supplements, but you seem fine and I see you regularly, so can tell you if anything seems to be a problem.” My current GP would probably be shocked if he knew how many different ones I was taking, but I experiment with many different ones. When I told my opthalmologist I had improved my Cataracts by about 70 to 80% by adding 5 supplements to my routine, his only comment was a scornful one, “they have not done any double blind studies on those supplements.” Who does double blind studies on 5 supplements at the same time? My previous Opth. had increased the spacing on my regular driving eye exam from one to two years. If the new guy is still around, I am afraid he may cut me back to 1 year for spite. Three years ago, I grew back up one inch. I think it may have been one or more of those cataract helping supplements. Twenty years ago I was 5’5”, I shrunk down to 5’3” and was stable there for about 10 years after adding boron and other items. A year ago, I was still 5’4”. Need to have my annual physical soon, will see then if I have grown some more or remained stable. I have never told my most recent assigned GP what supplements I am taking.
I need to get a legal statement requiring a hospital to let me arrange my own supplements. I think a hospital killed my best friend because they would not let her take the supplements she had added to her cancer treatment that along with chemo were shrinking the tumors as they had done with my brother’s metastatic liver cancer. Unfortunately his 4th Covid shot quickly had him on a fast slide to death.
My wife keeps up on the supplements. Our interests do not intersect much, which is a good thing. My BP had gone into 155/105 after a very stressful period, and supplements alone were not sufficient. My two bp dosages are very low, but do the job.
Do you know of any supplements for advanced macular degeneration (the bad kind)? My 88 year old mother has it, and treatment options are limited.
Life is good if you can have pecan pie. My wife makes an excellent one. (Not shy on the butter, and a little brown rum, NOT bourbon) to add that extra something
Ever since I had Covid-19, my blood pressure is all over the place.
ACE2 is a protein that plays a crucial role in regulating blood pressure by converting angiotensin II, a vasoconstrictor, into angiotensin 1-7, which promotes vasodilation.
ACE2 also serves as a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, potentially impacting blood pressure regulation in infected individuals. For me, my blood pressure skyrocketed. This was in March of 2000, when I had the virus. (I had it early as I was traveling near China and was with many Chinese people).
I refused the blood pressure medication and it came down on its own by taking nattokinase and nicotine supplements for stop smoking. (Nicotine blocks the ACE2 receptor, but does not lower the spiked proteins. That’s what the nattokinase did, so combined they lowered my blood pressure.)
“The Two Faces of ACE2: The Role of ACE2 Receptor and Its Polymorphisms in Hypertension and COVID-19”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7314689/
Very interesting article....
“I have white coat syndrome. My BP is always high in the Dr. office.”
Same here. I’m married to a Dr. and she can really increase my blood pressure.
At 90, my father was diagnosed with MD. I don’t know if it was the “bad” kind, but his signature was getting sloppy. I bought him a blender and showed him how to make a veggie oriented smoothy, and a part fruit smoothy, and encouraged him to drink at least 2 8 oz glasses a day. Years ago when I started learning about supplements I cured his life long severe spring allergy. When he had prostate cancer in his 70s, he went to Dr. Atkins in NY and cured his cancer, so he was faithful to his current supplements and my instructions, I believe.
Unfortunately, several months later he was standing in a long grocery line to buy food and ice to take with him on his 90 mile drive to try to get back rent from a non paying renter. He had a bad temper, and had never followed my advice on doing something about it. I think he blew a vein in his brain that put him in the hospital. He also never followed my advice or used the 7 little baggies paired to go in the two larger baggies I marked morning and evening for his supplements. He insisted in counting them out each day in the morning and evening, so there was nothing ready for his housemate to bring to the hospital for him. So he had no supplements for the 4 days it took for me and my husband with Alzheimers to go to help him and give him his supplements. After two days he was getting better and we were planning some kind of aftercare, but then the hospital called and said he was actively dying but we did not make it in time. No autopsy at 90, but I suspect his typhoid injured bowel probably bled out. He was one of four infants who survived of 80 infected by unpasteurized milk, and was always very careful of his bowel. Did the hospital fail to let him have his desired bowel aides? I will never know. I did find that signatures on his checks had improved, and the recent ones were definitely better. I suspect the raw smoothies had made the difference, when added to the supplements he took “religiously”. When I have a health issue, I check with Google and ask “nutrition and supplements to help _________” That is how I found the supplements to add for Cataracts. You can do the same for the MD. When you find some suggestions, you can PM me and if they are the same as my Cataract ones, I can suggest dose levels.
August 1999 to now is almost 27 years, but you have aged only 16 years in that time? Amazing. What pills are you taking to have that effect?
Heh, heh. I’ve got all that data but I still can’t master subtraction.
“ Studies are showing our stale air has too much CO2, and it affects thinking.”
This is very interesting. I definitely feel better when I am outside then when I am inside. Oursuper airtight homes are so different from the leaky widowed houses we grew up in. They were probably much healthier.
Lisinopril is derived from the venom of a pit viper
which is why it thins the blood and has many side
effects. Vitamin K, L-arginine and magnesium have
helped me lower my BP. Eggs shells are a good source
vitamins & minerals as well as mushrooms and eggs.
After 2020 I also cut way back on alcohol and built
up immunity, only 2 sinus infections and no colds nor
flu with these changes in the last 6 years.
See what I just posted #78 this thread.
In 2021 I had to have the Covid shot to be allowed to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my partner’s doctor son’s home with new baby’s. Partner tool Moderna. I took J&J to avoid the MRNA new technology. He later had other Covid shots, I did NOT. In early 2023 he was exposed to his little grandsons respiratory illness, got sick and shared it with me. We were both quite sick for 3 1/2 months and subsequently I’ll 5 or 6 more times with similar illnesses and length of symptoms. I was puzzled since I had NOT had the MRNA shot, and began to suspect the spike protein which J&J also had.
Then I read a medical article blaming the spike protein, and also found 3 supplements suggested for clearing the body of spike protein. I started giving us the recommended Nattokinase, Curcumin, and Bromelein late spring 2025 and we have had no lingering illnesses since then, although his son the doctor, still begs him to babysit when his ill grandson can’t go to school. There are other supplements to clear spike proteins recommended besides the three we take. I still avoid my partner for a week after such risky babysitting events. I was coughing so violently with that first long illness that I seem to have damaged the optic nerve in one eye. The doctor did not agree with my conclusion, but my son, a paratrooper, says such injuries occur from the violent movements during the jumps.
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