Cardiac pathology and systolic murmurs in the elderly.

Systolic murmurs are often noted in elderly patients admitted to hospital (Monroe, 1951). They tend to be dismissed as of no clinical significance and due to aortic sclerosis (Bruns and Van der Hauwaert, 1958); rarely is origin from other valves considered. However, observations during earlier studies on other aspects of cardiovascular pathology in the aged (Pomerance, 1965, 1967) did not seem consistent with these views, and the findings in those patients in whom systolic murmurs had been heard were therefore reviewed.