In the industrialised world, high blood pressure is, together with diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia the main risk factor for cardiovascular death. Total and cardiovascular mortality within a hypertensive collective is twice as high as in a group of normotensives [1].
Research on the pathogenesis of hypertension is still beset with unanswered questions. Multiple etiologic factors, such as renal disease, renovascular disease, mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid excess have been identified as causes of secondary hypertension. However, our knowledge of specific hypertensiogenic factors in essential or primary hypertension, which accounts for more than 95% of cases, is still inadequate [2].
In recent years a number of findings referring to the causes of essential hypertension have been presented. Various experiments have been performed on animal models, such as spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) or the Dahl salt-sensitive rats (DS), as well as on humans [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Although these experiments may differ and the results are often contradictory, there is general consent that essential hypertension is a multifactorial disease influenced by both, genetic and environmental factors.
© 2001 Alexander Binder