title: Plasma triglycerides and 24 hour urinary sodium excretion in elderly hypertensives. A pathogenetic connection?
abstract: Hypertension among the elderly generally represents a salt- sensitive state. However this salt-sensitivity does not appear to result from age-related increase in either sodium or salt intake. Since 20 years new trends seem to relate the role of sodium in the genesis of hypertension to a primary abnormality of electrolyte transport of cell membrane. Lipid abnormalities have also been described in untreated patients with high blood pressure. Plasma triglycerides were considerably higher (p < 0.01) in the hypertensives than in the controls. 24 hour sodium excretion was significantly lower (p < 0.0001) in hypertensives than in the controls. We have found a strong correlation among reduced sodium excretion, higher triglycerides and elevated blood pressure in the elderly. The blood pressure correlated negatively with 24 hour sodium excretion (p < 0.0001 for systolic and p < 0.002 for diastolic) and positively with plasma triglycerides (p < 0.0001 for systolic and p < 0.001 for diastolic). The poor literature regarding an association of these two alterations in human hypertensives makes our results provocative. We speculated that these alterations may be a facet of the insulin resistance commonly detectable in human hypertensives. However, further investigations are required to answer to this intriguing hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra Gerontologia e Geriatria, Università di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scuteri
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cacciafesta
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Di Bernardo
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: De Propris
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Foco
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marigliano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017136:Ion Transport; D009318:Natriuresis; D012964:Sodium / Q000652:urine*; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000009:adverse effects; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary; D014280:Triglycerides; D012964:Sodium