Original scientific paper

Blood Pressure Variation in the Institutionalized Elderly

Gillian H. Ice
Gary D. James
Douglas E. Crews

Abstract

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring has been used to examine stress responses
in a variety of settings and populations, demonstrating that both the environment
and activities influence BP. Little is known, however, about the effects of such factors
on the BP of elders, particularly those in institutional settings. This paper examines
sources of variation in BP among elders living in two long-term care settings. Twentyseven
residents of a nursing home (NH) facility and 29 residents from independent living
(IL) facilities wore ABP monitors for approximately 24-hours. Individual pressures
were transformed to z-scores and analyzed by ANOVA. Posture, mood and activity were
significantly associated with systolic BP among IL while location and activity were significantly
associated among NH. Posture and activity were associated with diastolic BP
among IL residents. The specific effects of location, posture, and activity did not differ
across settings.

Keywords

aging; nursing home; independent living; stress

Hrčak ID:

28079

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/28079

Publication date:

16.6.2003.

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