The incidence of hypertension is rising in the general population. A parallel trend is present in children and adolescents. This reflects more intensive treatment and improved patient survival after a wide range of serious systemic illnesses that can lead to hypertension. In addition, primary or essential hypertension is more prevalent because of the epidemic of obesity and metabolic syndrome i...

Essential hypertension (EH) is a complex disease in which physiological, environmental, and genetic factors are involved in its genesis. The genetic variant of the alpha-adducin gene (ADD1) has been described as a risk factor for EH, but with controversial results.The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of ADD1 (Gly460Trp) gene polymorphism with the EH risk in a population f...

Essential hypertension (EH) is commonly accompanied by a dysfunction of glucose metabolism. Glucokinase (GCK) is a key enzyme involved in glucose metabolism. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether GCK gene-body methylation contributed to the risk of EH. A total of 47 patients with EH and 47 age-matched controls were recruited for methylation research in the current study. GCK g...

PURPOSE Pharmacist interventions to enhance blood pressure (BP) control and adherence to antihypertensive therapy in adults with essential hypertension were reviewed. METHODS A literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles describing pharmacist interventions intended to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications. Studies were included if they described a pharmacist inte...

DESCRIPTION Update of the 2003 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation on screening for high blood pressure in children and adolescents. METHODS The USPSTF reviewed the evidence on screening and diagnostic accuracy of screening tests for blood pressure in children and adolescents, the effectiveness and harms of treatment of screen-detected primary childhood hypertension, a...

L s he role of plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) in the athogenesis of hypertension took an interesting turn a few ears ago when several clinical trials claimed a higher revalence of primary hyperaldosteronism in patients hought to have primary or essential hypertension, particuarly those with resistant hypertension (1). A few clinical rials demonstrated that, on the basis of these data, t...

So much has been said and written about the kidney as an etiological factor in essential hypertension, almost as a unique cause, that it would be of value to review some other aspects of this disorder. Data on the possible significance of some non-renal mechanisms which function in essential hypertension in relation to the treatment of this condition by the drugs in current use would cover cert...

Angiotensinogen (AGT) gene polymorphisms have been linked to increased risk of hypertension, but the data remain controversial. In this study we review the most commonly investigated polymorphisms at the AGT locus (other than M235T) and provide summary estimates regarding their association with essential hypertension, while addressing heterogeneity, as well as publication biases. Data on 26 818...

* PhD. Associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Hypertension in children is associated with a higher incidence of secondary causes than in adults; however, in the last decade, studies have shown an increase in the incidence of essential hypertension in the pediatric population, especially among ad...

Over the past few years, it has been asserted that genome-wide association studies would open the door to identifying primary genetic mechanisms underlying a variety of common clinical disorders, including essential hypertension. Great hope was expressed that such research would ultimately lead to improved clinical outcomes by facilitating the discovery of novel targets for therapy and by spawn...