Citation

Romero-Ortuno R, Cogan L, Foran TG, Kenny RA, Fan CW. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2011; 59(4): 655-665.

Affiliation

From the *Technology Research for Independent Living Centre and ‡Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; and †Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03352.x

PMID

21438868

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To identify morphological orthostatic blood pressure (BP) phenotypes in older people and assess their correlation with orthostatic intolerance (OI), falls, and frailty and to compare the discriminatory performance of a morphological classification with two established orthostatic hypotension (OH) definitions: consensus (COH) and initial (IOH). DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Geriatric research clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred forty-two participants (mean age 72, 72% female) without dementia or risk factors for autonomic neuropathy. MEASUREMENTS: Active lying-to-standing test monitored using a continuous noninvasive BP monitor. For the morphological classification, four orthostatic systolic BP variables were extracted (delta (baseline - nadir) and maximum percentage of baseline recovered by 30 seconds and 1 and 2 minutes) using the 5-second averages method and entered in K-means cluster analysis (three clusters). Main outcomes were OI, falls (≥1 in past 6 months), and frailty (modified Fried criteria). RESULTS: The morphological clusters were small drop, fast overrecovery (n=112); medium drop, slow recovery (n=238); and large drop, nonrecovery (n=92). Their characterization revealed an increasing OI gradient (17.9%, 27.5%, and 44.6% respectively, P<.001) but no significant gradients in falls or frailty. The COH definition failed to reveal clinical differences between COH+ (n=416) and COH- (n=26) participants. The IOH definition resulted in a clinically meaningful separation between IOH+ (n=85) and IOH- (n=357) subgroups, as assessed according to OI (100% vs 11.5%, P<.001), falls (24.7% vs 10.4%, P<.001), and frailty (14.1% vs 5.4%, P=.005). CONCLUSION: It is recommended that the IOH definition be applied when taking continuous noninvasive orthostatic BP measurements in older people.

Language: en