POSTPRANDIAL BLOOD-PRESSURE CHANGES IN GEROPSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

Postprandial hypotension is more common among the elderly than among t he young. Complications of postprandial hypotension potentially includ e falls, fractures and death. We studied 21 ambulatory patients in a u niversity-affiliated, state-operated geropsychiatric hospital. Subject s had major psychiatric diagnoses and received vasoactive drugs for th ose diagnoses', After baseline measurements, study subjects ate lunch within 15 minutes. The next day, we repeated the procedure except that study subjects did not eat lunch until after they completed the proto col. Mean blood pressure progressively dropped during the 45-minute pe riod following eating with the greatest difference between eating and not eating values occurring at 45 minutes. Our study results more clos ely approximated the findings in the literature for community-dwelling elderly than geropsychiatric patients in residential settings. Age al one may explain study differences, Based on our preliminary findings, it may be that major psychiatric illness and/or its treatment do not a lter age-related cardiovascular hemodynamics in geropsychiatric patien ts compared with their non-psychiatric counterparts.