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The 2014 Eighth Joint National Committee panel recommended a therapeutic target of systolic blood pressure (BP) <150 mm Hg in patients ≥60 years of age, a departure from prior recommendation of <140 mm Hg.

This study assessed the efficacy and safety of intensive BP-lowering strategies in older (age ≥65 years) hypertensive patients.

The MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched for all relevant randomized controlled trials from 1965 through July 1, 2016. Cardiovascular (major adverse cardiovascular events [MACE], cardiovascular mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure), and safety (serious adverse events and renal failure) were evaluated. Random and fixed effects analysis were used to calculate pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

We identified 4 high-quality trials involving 10,857 older …