Influence of Eating on Blood Pressure Readings in Older Adults

Abstract

A decrease in blood pressure is a common occurrence in old age. However, nurses are more aware that blood pressure rises in aging (Rossman, 1979). In 1983, Lipsitz, Nyquist, Wie, and Rowe indicated in their research that postprandial blood pressure reduction in institutionalized elders may predispose them to symptomatic hypotension resulting in syncope. Few, if any, studies have examined the effects of eating a meal on blood pressure levels in older adults living in the community, despite the fact that approximately 95% of older adults are community dwellers. Because many of the clients visited by community health nurses are older adults, nurses should be aware of the possibility of hypotensive episodes following a meal. This study examined an area of health care generally neglected by researchers in the past, the relation between syncope associated with hypotension and the ingestion of a meal in older adults living in the community. Syncope, or fainting, is a transient loss of consciousness due to a lack of adequate cerebral blood supply (Brocklehurst, 1978; Nobel, 1977). According to Hansen (1977), severe symptomatic arterial hypotension provoked by eating should be investigated; however, few researchers have studied this problem in non-instutionalized older adults.