title: Increased left ventricular mass in salt-sensitive hypertensive patients.
abstract: Clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic characteristics were evaluated from 50 essential hypertensive patients classified asccording to their salt-sensitivity status. Salt-sensitive hypertension was diagnosed by means of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in 22 (44%) patients showing a significant increase in mean BP (P < 0.05) from a 7-day period of low salt (20 mmol NaCl/day) intake, to a 7-day period of high salt (260 mmol NaCl/day) intake. The remaining 28 (56%) patients were considered as having salt-resistant hypertension. Compared with salt-resistant patients, salt-sensitive ones showed an increased left ventricular mass index (P = 0.0118), septal (P = 0.0021) and posterior wall thickness (P = 0.0026), without differences in the internal diastolic diameter. Decreased values of HDL-cholesterol (P = 0.0475) and increased total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio (P = 0.0098) were also observed in the salt-sensitive, compared with the salt-resistant hypertensive patients. Age, gender, body mass index, systolic and diastolic BP, fasting plasma glucose, creatinine and uric acid did not differ between salt-sensitive and salt-resistant patients. We conclude that, at the same level of BP, salt-sensitive patients exhibit an increased prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and a worse lipid profile. These two aspects may confer to salt-sensitive patients an increased risk in terms of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de la Sierra
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lluch
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Paré
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coca
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Aguilera
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azqueta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urbano-Márquez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary