Plasma renin activity and aldosterone concentration in children.
Using semi-micro methods, plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma aldosterone concentration (PA) were measured concurrently in 79 healthy children aged 1 month to 15 years to establish a reference range. PRA and PA varied inversely with age. Eleven children with renal hypertension had higher PRA and PA than age-matched controls. In contrast, PRA was much greater in 38 saline-depleted children. PA was not uniformly increased in this group and was within the normal range in children with adrenal diseases compared with the high values seen in other salt-wasting states. The findings emphasise the need to relate data from patients to age-matched control values before attempting interpretation and suggest that sodium depletion is a more potent stimulator of renin-aldosterone release than renovascular disease or renal scarring in children. Plasma renin-aldosterone profiles were also valuable in discriminating between renal and adrenal causes of salt loss in childhood.
D000293:Adolescent; D000307:Adrenal Gland Diseases / Q000097:blood; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000450:Aldosterone / Q000097:blood*; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D006977:Hypertension, Renal / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D007223:Infant; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000097:blood; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood*; D012964:Sodium / Q000172:deficiency / Q000652:urine
D000450:Aldosterone; D012964:Sodium; D003404:Creatinine; D012083:Renin