A questionnaire survey was administered to Japanese clinical specialists in hypertension in order to gauge their opinions on the 1999 revised version of the Guidelines for Hypertension in the Elderly prepared by the Comprehensive Research Project on Aging and Health of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Out of 162 council members of the Japanese Society of Hypertension, 122 (75%) replied. The majority (93%) of respondents approved of the guidelines in general, and 72% of them approved of the age-related setting of a therapeutic goal for blood pressure. Sixty-five percent of respondents selected long-acting Ca antagonists, ACE inhibitors and low-dose diuretics as first-line agents for hypertension without complications in the elderly. The results of the questionnaire survey should be reflected in the next version of the guidelines.