Objective To explore the Chinese medicine treatment and medication rules for elderly hypertension and middle-aged and young hypertension patients

and to compare their similarities and differences. Methods Clinical studies about Chinese herbs treating elderly hypertension and middle-aged and young hypertension in CNKI

Wanfang data

and VIP database were collected. Information on treatment and herbs were extracted to build a prescription database. Frequency and cluster analysis were conducted. Results One hundred and sixty-one studies about elderly hypertension and forty studies about middle-aged and young hypertension were included. Sixteen therapeutic methods were involved

and among them

the top four most frequently used methods for elderly hypertension patients were invigorating blood（ 77）

enriching and nourishing liver and kidney（ 68）

calming liver and subduing Yang（ 67）

and boosting Qi（ 47）. For middle-aged and young hypertension patients

the top four popular treatment were calming liver and subduing Yang（ 21）

clearing liver heat and draining fire（ 18）

invigorating blood（ 15）

and dissolving phlegm and directing turbidity downward（ 15）. For the elderly hypertension

there were 195 correlated formulas with 181 herbs involved in; the top ten frequently used herbs were Niuxi [Achyranthes Bidentatae Radix

牛膝]

Fuling [Poria

茯苓]

Tianma [Gastrodiae Rhizoma

天麻]

Danshen [Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix Et Rhizoma

丹参]

Danggui [Angelicae Sinensis Radix

当归]

Gouteng [Uncariae Ramulus Cum Uncis

钩藤]

Chuanxiong[Chuanxiong Rhizoma

川芎]

Huangqi [Astragali Radix

黄芪]

Zexie [Alismatis Rhizoma

泽泻] and Gancao[Glycyrrhizae Radix Et Rhizoma

甘草]. As for middle-aged and young hypertension

there were 53 correlated formulas with 115 herbs

and the top ten herbs were Gouteng

Fuling

Baishao [Paeoniae Radix Alba

白芍]

Tianma

Baizhu [Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma

白术]

Huangqin [Scutellariae Radix

黄芩]

Juhua [Chrysanthemi Flos

菊花]

Niuxi

Shijueming [Haliotidis Concha

石决明]and Zexie. The cluster analysis showed that there were five core herb clusters for treating elderly hypertension

and seven for middle-aged and young hypertension. Conclusion Both treatments for elderly hypertension and for middle-aged and young hypertension focus on calming liver and subduing Yang and invigorating blood

while the former one emphasizes boosting Qi and nourishing blood as well as enriching and nourishing liver and kidney

and draining dampness and dissolving phlegm as well as clearing liver heat and draining fire are also used; the latter one emphasizes clearing heat and draining fire as well as dissolving phlegm and directing turbidity downward

and enriching Yin and subduing Yang as well as soothing liver and regulating spleen are also used.