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

In a study of cardiovascular reactivity to dietary manipulation of sodium and calcium, we pretested 30 young black normotensive males who were equally divided by positive and negative parental histories of hypertension with a 12-item anger questionnaire we devised and the Cook-Medley Hostility, Manifest Hostility, Overcontrolled Hostility, and Inhibited Hostility scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Contrary to expectations, we found no correlation of resting blood pressure or cardiovascular reactivity to repeated mental demands with the two measures of inhibited hostility. We did, however, find resistance to habituation of cardiovascular reactivity in subjects with high Manifest Hostility and positive family histories of essential hypertension. Our findings suggest that vulnerability to hypertension may be revealed by the perseveration of blood pressure reactivity to repeated mental challenge. We propose that the perseveration of blood pressure reactivity is a disinhibitory phenomenon caused by a difficulty in the management of multiple inhibitory demands that disrupts the natural course of habituation and could be an important etiologic factor in essential hypertension.
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PMID:Manifest hostility may affect habituation of cardiovascular reactivity in blacks. 222 70

The roles of dietary and behavioral factors in the etiology of hypertension are not well understood. Vulnerability to hypertension is thought to be affected by a complex interaction of nutritional, genetic, neurophysiological, and psychosocial influences. We studied cardiovascular reactivity to sodium and stress in a group of 29 normotensive young men who were vulnerable to hypertension by virtue of familial and/or racial factors. Subjects with positive and negative parental histories of hypertension were provided all meals for five days during which blood pressure was monitored before each meal. Two groups were given 300 mEq/day dietary sodium with either 1100 mg/day or 410 mg/day dietary calcium. A third group consumed a 10mEq sodium diet with low dietary calcium. On the fifth day of the diet all subjects were tested for cardiovascular reactivity using a modified Stroop test as a mentally challenging task. Adaptation of systolic blood pressure (SBP) from the first to the fifth breakfast was most pronounced in subjects consuming high calcium with high sodium. Perseveration of SBP reactivity to repeated mental challenge was found in subjects who consumed high sodium with low calcium and in subjects with positive parental histories of hypertension. The perseverative phenomenon was particularly well-defined in subjects who had the highest urinary excretion of calcium. Our findings suggest a prophylactic influence of dietary calcium and its retention on cardiovascular reactivity to sodium and stress. We also elucidate a theoretical proposition concerning the role of neurophysiological inhibitory capacity in the transition from normotension to the chronic dysregulatory state of essential hypertension.
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PMID:Calcium attenuates cardiovascular reactivity to sodium and stress in blacks. 236 96

Untreated hypertension negatively affects brain anatomy and cognitive functions, but the effects of medically treated hypertension are unclear. The authors compared 40 middle-age and older adults diagnosed with essential hypertension to demographically matched normotensive peers. Volumes of 7 brain regions and deep and periventricular white-matter hyperintensities (WMH) were measured on magnetic resonance imaging scans. Performance in 4 cognitive domains (perseveration, working memory, fluid reasoning, and vocabulary knowledge) was evaluated. Persons with hypertension had smaller prefrontal cortex and underlying white matter volumes and increased frontal WMH. No group differences were found in other examined brain regions. Among examined cognitive variables, hypertensive patients committed significantly more perseverative errors. Thus, even controlled hypertension may be associated with deficits in brain structure and cognition, warranting further study.
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PMID:Hypertension and the brain: vulnerability of the prefrontal regions and executive functions. 1467 38