The renin-aldosterone system in the diagnosis of essential hypertension
Zelnick, N.; Boner, G.; Rosenfeld, J.
Harefuah 102(4): 139-141
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-7768 PMID: 7047319 Document Number: 188718
In the past few years patients with essential hypertension have been divided into 3 groups according to plasma renin activity and its responsiveness. The specificity of the low-renin essential hypertension group (63 patients) was investigated and compared with that of 80 other patients with essential hypertension, with primary aldosteronism and with normal subjects. In the low-renin group, plasma renin activity had low responsiveness to stimulation [walking 3 h while receiving hydrochlorothiazide 20 mg three times daily for 3 days] while plasma aldosterone levels and aldosterone-per-unit-renin showed no such change in responsiveness. Patients in the 1st group were older than the others. The distribution of essential hypertension patients according to plasma renin activity was exponential. Evidently renin-aldosterone profiling in the work-up of the patient with essential hypertension is of limited diagnostic usefulness.