Clonidine hydrochloride is a sympathetic inhibitor with central site of action. The antihypertensive effect in man in the supine position is -associated with a decrease in cardiac output and no consistent changes in total peripheral resistance. In the standing position, however, in addition to the decrease in cardiac output, a fall in total peripheral resistance becomes evident. The fall in blo...

Dementia is a syndrome of global cognitive de­ cline which inter venes with social and occupation­ al functioning. The two most common dementias are Alzheimer's disease (AD), caused by neuro­ degeneration, and vascular dementia, caused by cerebrovascular disease. These two causes often co­occur (often referred to as " mixed dementia "), especially after the age of 80. Dementia is com­ mon in th...

We propose a new vector index for the statistical assessment of antihypertensive treatment duration and homogeneity from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. We termed this approach for evaluating and comparing blood pressure coverage offered by antihypertensive drugs over 24 h as the reduction-duration-homogeneity index. The reduction-duration-homogeneity index is a three-component vector ind...

To the Editor: In their article, “Hypertension Control in Community Health Centers Across China: Analysis of Antihypertensive Drug Treatment Patterns,” Wang et al.1 reported baseline information on antihypertensive prescriptions from 1,000 community health centers in China from March 2007 to the end of 2010. The number of treated hypertensive patients was 92,325 out of 249,830 patients with hyp...

Arterial hypertension is prevalent in the black population in the United States. It is directly related to cardiovascular and kidney damage. Its pathogenesis is complex and includes the high incidence of obesity, salt sensitivity and the activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This complexity requires a therapeutic combination that includes changes in dietary habits and appropri...

The importance of plasma and extracellular fluid volumes in the mechanism of the antihypertensive effect of chlorothiazide is disputed. The present investigation indicates that the lowering of blood pressure is accompanied by reductions in plasma and extracellular fluid volumes and in body weight. Furthermore, re-expansion of plasma volume with salt-free dextran reverses the antihypertensive ef...

Vasodilating antihypertensive drugs have in common the capacity to activate the peripheral sympathetic nervous system through the carotid sinus baroreceptor reflex mechanism, thereby increasing heart rate, renin release, and sodium and water retention. They differ in their tendencies to augment cardiac output and to relieve or precipitate cardiac failure and arrhythmias. Vasodilating antihypert...

This report describes the regular use of acupuncture treatments for a patient with hypertension who could not tolerate the side effects of the antihypertensive agents. The patient received 60 acupuncture treatments in the course of 12 weeks, during which time his overall wellbeing improved, his blood pressure reduced and the side effects of antihypertensive drugs were removed. Although acupunct...

a. We recommend the use of antihypertensive therapies to treat hypertension among those with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (1B) with a suggested blood pressure target of less than or equal to 130/80 mm Hg (2B). b. We recommend that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors be considered as first-line antihypertensive therapy (1B) and, if intolerant, that angiotensin-receptor block...