[Essential hypertension, a complex trait].
Essential hypertension, defined as a blood pressure equal to or above 140/90 mmHg, is a common (25% of the population), but complex disease the phenotype of which results from interactions between numerous genes and environmental factors. The role attributable to genetic factors amounts to some 25% among hypertensive families, but can reach 65% when monozygotic twins are compared. In the present state of our knowledge, there is no hope to obtain a genetic test of value for the diagnosis and prognosis of hypertension. An individualized environmental approach, applied early in life, is the only worhtwhile attitude. Nonetheless, in the presence of a subject with still normal blood pressure values, but with a family history of hypertension, the physician should firmly recommend an appropriate hygieno-dietetic lifestyle with a view to lower blood pressure, or retard the development of arterial hypertension
Université de Liège, Belgique. jm.krzesinski@chu.ulg.ac.be
J-M
JM
Krzesinski
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A
Saint-Remy
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D015984:Causality; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology