Q. I read a lot about the dangers of high blood pressure, but mine is abnormally low. Is that a problem?
A. If your blood pressure is naturally low, there may be no problem, especially if you don’t have symptoms like dizziness or lightheadedness. If you do have such symptoms, you should let your primary care provider know about them.
Antihypertensive Drugs
But there might be a problem for people who get their blood pressure extra low by taking medications. Those who have cognitive dysfunction who take blood pressure medicine are at higher risk for dementia if their treated blood pressure goes too low, with systolic pressure under 128 (JAMA Internal Medicine, online March 2, 2015). In a related commentary, Dutch gerontologists suggest that the old idea that lower is always better needs to be reexamined.
Optimal blood pressure in older people may be a bit higher than the usual target of 120/80.
