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Query: UMLS:C0085580 (essential hypertension)
 14,686 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

With advancing age blood pressure rises in most populations with the exception of some isolated tribes. In western countries 30 to 40% of the people above the age of 60 years have casual blood pressure levels greater than or equal to 160/95 mm Hg. Advancing age per se produces a number of physiological changes related to blood pressure, such as a decrease in cardiac output, an increase in peripheral vascular resistance and a decrease in plasma renin-angiotensin-aldosterone levels. The mechanism causing the elevation in pressure with age are unknown though increased rigidity of the great vessels contributes to the rise in systolic pressure. There is a decline in the sensitivity of the baroreceptor reflex, but the contribution of this to the elevation of pressure has not be elucidated. Elderly patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension have a low cardiac output and high peripheral vascular resistance. The rise in blood pressure is associated with an increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality even in the elderly hypertensives. The available data on the efficacy of hypotensive treatment in the elderly is scanty. There are no data proving that hypotensive therapy prolongs life. Controlled studies on the prevention of organ damage especially cerebrovascular accidents are inconclusive, showing either a significant decrease or no effect. Isolated reports illustrate, however, that drastic blood pressure reduction can provoke serious side effects, thus decreasing the quality of life. Hypotensive treatment is indicated in elderly hypertensive patients with hypertensive retinopathy grade III or IV, congestive heart failure or cerebral haemorrhage, in elderly patients with a markedly elevated diastolic blood pressure (greater than or equal to 120 mm Hg) and a trial of hypotensive therapy should be offered in milder forms of hypertension when it is accompanied by certain specific symptoms such as angina, headache and dyspnoe. The management of elderly hypertensive patients is more difficult than in the young. General measures are often not well accepted. The dose adjustment of the hypotensive agent is more critical and volume depletion or orthostatic hypotension are more likely to occur.
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PMID:Aging and the cardiovascular system. 37 49

A 49-year-old female with a 30-year history of untreated essential hypertension was noted to have a blood pressure of 290/175 mmHg during evaluation for elective gynecological surgery. At the time of hospitalization she complained chiefly of chronic frontal headaches. Physical examination revealed grade two hypertensive retinopathy, and laboratory studies showed left ventricular hypertrophy. Over the next 12 days the patient's blood pressure was successfully lowered to 178/106 mmHg. During revision of her therapy her mean blood pressure rose to 244/144 mm Hg (88% of the admission level) over 36 hours and she developed hypertensive encephalopathy with papilledema, headaches and projectile vomiting. Concomitant resolution of neurological symptoms and control of blood pressure occurred over the next nine days. The course of this patient suggests that autoregulation of cerebral blood flow may be acutely reversed and that the occurrence of hypertensive encephalopathy depends not only on the magnitude and duration of the blood pressure elevation but, more important, on the rate at which that blood pressure is attained.
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PMID:Iatrogenically induced hypertensive encephalopathy. 45 3

Eye-ground-photos were taken in twenty-eight previously untreated men with mild to moderate essential hypertension. The same eye was evaluated before and after 26 weeks of double-blind treatment with Enalapril or Hydrochlorothiazide. The vascular changes were assessed by using a more elaborate and refined grading than the Keith-Wagener-Barker scale. All photos were examined by the same observer without knowledge of blood pressure, type of treatment or the order in which the photos had been taken. There were significant positive correlations between the vascular alterations in the retina in the untreated state and left ventricular wall thickness (echocardiography), minimal vascular resistance in the calf (plethysmography) and blood pressure respectively. Treatment with Enalapril decreased the reflection of the retinal arterial wall significantly and reduced the narrowing of arteries and arterio-venous crossing phenomena non-significantly. Hydrochlorothiazide did not affect any of the retinal vascular changes. It can be concluded that this relatively simple technique of evaluating eye-ground-photos with a new grading scale, when used in non-malignant hypertension, gives a useful assessment of the degree of hypertensive target organ damage in the retina as well as in other important target organs, i.e. the heart and vascular beds. In addition, Enalapril positively affects hypertensive retinopathy in contrast to Hydrochlorothiazide, reflecting what happens to structural cardiovascular changes in the rest of the body.
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PMID:Hypertensive retinal vascular changes: relationship to left ventricular hypertrophy and arteriolar changes before and after treatment. 134 41

In patients with essential hypertension increased albumin excretion in the urine compared to healthy controls is well known. In 38 patients (age: Mean +/- SD = 37 +/- 16 yr, f: m = 19:19) with benign essential hypertension and normal renal function (creatinine clearance: Mean +/- SD = 99 +/- 16 ml/min) we found a mean urinary albumin excretion of 79 +/- 61 mg/24 h in comparison to 14 +/- 13 mg/24 h (p less than 0.01) in 10 healthy controls (age: Mean +/- SD = 35 +/- 14 yr, f: m = 5:5). In 13 patients with hypertension urinary albumin excretion was increased (greater than 25 mg/24 h) in a subclinical range (microalbuminuria), the other 25 hypertensive patients had normoalbuminuria. Comparing the hypertensive patients with and without microalbuminuria, those with elevated albumin excretion were older (age: Mean +/- SD = 42 +/- 12 yr vs. 32 +/- 19 yr), had a longer average duration of hypertension (8 +/- 5 yr vs. 5 +/- 4 yr) and a higher prevalence both of hypertensive retinopathy (77% vs. 28%) and of abnormalities in the electrocardiogram (23% vs. 4%) than those with normal albumin excretion. The difference in the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy (grade I and II) was statistically significant (p less than 0.05). Furthermore the patients with microalbuminuria required a more intensive antihypertensive therapy than those with normoalbuminuria, 46% requiring triple drug therapy as opposed to 24% in the latter group. Thus the demonstration of microalbuminuria in patients with benign essential hypertension is associated with a higher prevalence of funduscopic and electrocardiographic abnormalities, and therefore can be considered as an indicator of early vascular damage in essential hypertension.
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PMID:[Microalbuminuria in essential hypertension and normal kidney function]. 155 22

To document the clinical presentation of malignant accelerated hypertension in Nigerians, 56 patients were studied between 1987 and 1989 (30 months). Age range was 16 to 55 years with 59% in the range of 30-49 years; 47 were male. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 217 mmHg and 146 mmHg, respectively. Thirty patients had grade III and 26 grade IV hypertensive retinopathy. Mean body mass index was only 22.4 in the 21 patients who had no evidence of fluid retention. Seventy-five percent of patients had no awareness of hypertension. Essential hypertension accounted for 66%, chronic renal disease 32% and renal artery stenosis 2% of cases. The most common clinical features were headaches (80%), fatigue (68%), oliguria (52%), heart failure (46%), weight loss (41%), and poor vision (21%). Multiple symptoms were common and 24 patients had both renal and cardiac failure. Laboratory features included microscopic haematuria (100%) and proteinuria (100%). In 37 patients with essential hypertension, renal failure was a complication in 60%. Microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia was present in 23 patients. In addition to eight deaths from renal failure in the acute stage, 23 of these patients required long-term dialysis. Thus, malignant accelerated hypertension was associated with high morbidity, especially renal failure; it primarily afflicted patients in their prime years. Known survival at one year was 37.5%, but some patients were lost to follow-up.
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PMID:The clinical presentation of malignant hypertension in Nigerians. 195 31

The response of retinal arteries and veins to 3 months of antihypertensive medication was studied in 10 patients (39-56 years old) with essential hypertension. We used computerized microdensitometry on fundus photographs, a technique allowing for objective and simultaneous measures of the caliber of blood columns and the width and intensity of their central 'light reflex'. A moderate lowering of diastolic and systolic blood pressures (P less than 0.001) resulted in a significant reduction in the intensity of reflection from retinal arteries (38.6%; P less than 0.005). An increase in the width of the blood column (2.8%; n.s.) and the reflex (8.6%; n.s.) was indicated. Traditionally, changes in light reflectivity has been associated with arteriosclerosis of the vessel wall. The study shows, however, that the vascular reflex is most sensitive to changes in the systemic blood pressure. This signals a need for critical reviewal of interpretation and usefulness of classical grading systems of ophthalmoscopic signs of hypertensive retinopathy.
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PMID:The response of the light reflex of retinal vessels to reduced blood pressure in hypertensive patients. 219 29

In 205 patients with histologically evaluated glomerulonephritis, 69 patients with essential hypertension and 12 patients with renovascular hypertension, the retina was examined and evaluated by fundus photography. Changes of the retina were classified according to the recommendations of WHO: mild to severe changes of retinal arteries were termed as mild hypertensive retinopathy, and exaggerated changes, including exudates, hemorrhages and optic disc changes, as severe hypertensive retinopathy. In spite of the short duration of renal disease and the young age of the patients in many cases, retinal changes in patients with renal hypertension were significantly more severe: especially in focal segmental sclerosis and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis was severe hypertensive retinopathy observed. Mild hypertensive retinopathy was more prevalent in essential hypertension. When renal disease progresses the retinal findings tended to deteriorate as well. Since the 24-hour blood pressure profile was comparable in most of the groups studied, it was supposed that the vulnerability of the retina and probably other vascular beds (e.g. kidneys) was increased. We conclude that the retina of these patients should be examined even in the case of relatively mild hypertension (greater than 180/100 mm Hg) and early antihypertensive treatment is an important requirement.
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PMID:Severe hypertensive retinopathy. Increased incidence in renoparenchymal hypertension. 343 98

In 84 patients with insufficiently treated essential hypertension (systolic blood pressure > or = 160 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure > or = 100 mmHg) and normal renal function (creatinine clearance Mean +/- SD = 114 +/- 22 ml/min/1.73 m2) the mean urinary albumin excretion was 39 +/- 19 mg/24h in comparison to 14 +/- 13 mg/24h (p < 0.001) in 10 healthy controls. In 39 of the hypertensive patients albumin excretion was increased (> 30 mg/24h urine) in a subclinical range (microalbuminuria). After 3 days of effective antihypertensive treatment (systolic blood pressure < 150 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg) the mean albumin excretion of the microalbuminuric patients decreased from 66 +/- 33 mg/24h to 44 +/- 28 mg/24h (p < 0.01). 27 of these hypertensive patients showed persistent microalbuminuria; in the other 12 patients with primary microalbuminuria the albumin excretion rate was normal now. In the patients with persistent microalbuminuria the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy was 85% in comparison to only 33% in the patients with reversible microalbuminuria under intensified antihypertensive treatment (p < 0.01) and 31% in the patients with primary normoalbuminuria. The prevalence of coronary heart disease was 11% in the patients with normoalbuminuria and 29% in those with irreversible microalbuminuria (ns). Thus hypertensive patients with persistent but not with reversible microalbuminuria under short intensive antihypertensive therapy show a statistically significant higher prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy and therefore can be considered as an indicator of general microvascular damage in essential hypertension.
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PMID:High prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy and coronary heart disease in hypertensive patients with persistent microalbuminuria under short intensive antihypertensive therapy. 802 13

To assess the role of hypertension in asymptomatic cerebral lacunae, we evaluated cranial computed tomography in 76 untreated hypertensive patients, 173 hypertensive patients treated with antihypertensive drugs, and 69 age-matched normotensive control subjects who were more than 60 years of age and without a history of stroke. Cerebral lacunae were diagnosed by computed tomography as a hypodense lesion less than 15 mm in diameter seen on a single 10-mm scan section. The factors contributing to lacunae were determined by stepwise discriminant analysis. Single or multiple cerebral lacunae were revealed in 27.6% (21 of 76) of untreated hypertensive patients, 17.3% (30 of 173) of treated hypertensive patients, and 7.2% (5 of 69) of normotensive control subjects. Incidence of lacunae was significantly higher in hypertensive patients than normotensive control subjects. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed that the most strongly contributing factor for lacunae was the grade of hypertensive retinopathy in untreated hypertensive patients and mean blood pressure in treated hypertensive patients. Asymptomatic cerebral lacunae were frequently detected by computed tomography in elderly patients with essential hypertension. The severity and duration of hypertension correlate positively with this type of vascular complication in hypertension.
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PMID:Role of hypertension in asymptomatic cerebral lacunae in the elderly. 828 71

A cohort of 227 untreated essential hypertensive patients from north-western Italy was studied in order to evaluate the prevalence of micro- and macroalbuminuria and their relationship with other cardiovascular risk factors. Albuminuria was evaluated as the albumin to creatinine ratio (Alb/Cr) in three non-consecutive first morning samples. The prevalence of microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria was 10% and 2.2%, respectively. Albuminuric patients showed higher blood pressure, serum creatinine, triglycerides and uric acid as well as a greater prevalence of retinopathy. Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that only a small part of variations in albuminuria was explained by changes in blood pressure. Duration of disease did not seem to influence microalbuminuria. The presence of hypertensive retinopathy was associated with greater albuminuria, longer duration of hypertension, and higher prevalence of major ECG changes, but not with higher blood pressure levels. Microalbuminuria, rather than a consequence of elevated blood pressure levels, seems to be a marker of a syndrome featuring, among other characteristics, essential hypertension. Furthermore, microalbuminuria must be considered as an independent cardiovascular risk factor.
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PMID:Prevalence of micro- and macroalbuminuria and their relationship with other cardiovascular risk factors in essential hypertension. 852 98


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