ABSTRACT
A fall in systolic pressure of 20 mmHg after 1 minute of quiet standing is usually taken as an abnormal response indicative of postural hypotension. In the generally healthy population of elderly men and women enrolled in the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program, postural hypotension was found in 10.4% at 1 minute after rising from a seated position, and in 12.0% at 3 minutes, with 17.3% having hypotension at one or both intervals. The prevalence would probably have been higher if the patients had been tested after rising from a supine position. The only predisposing factor for postural hypotension found in an unselected elderly population was hypertension. As seen in Figure 17, the higher the basal supine systolic blood pressure, the greater the postural fall.
