RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PLASMA ALDOSTERONE LEVELS AND LEFT VENTRICULAR MASS AND GEOMETRY IN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS: DOES SEX MATTER?

Introduction: Experimental evidence suggested that aldosterone can cause myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis. However, previous studies on the association between plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and left ventricular (LV) mass (LVM) and geometry, in subjects without primary aldosteronism yielded conflicting results. Aim: To evaluate the relationships of PAC with LV mass and geometry in patients with essential hypertension (EH), and to assess the influence of gender on these relationships. Methods: We enrolled 478 subjects (men: 63%; mean age 44 ± 12 years) with untreated EH. The measurements included 24-h blood pressures, plasma renin activity (PRA) and PAC, obtained by radioimmunoass…

Relationship of choroidal thickness with pulsatile hemodynamics in essential hypertensive patients

Controversy exists about the association of choroidal thickness (CTh) with blood pressure (BP) values. There is some evidence suggesting that central hemodynamics changes are associated with microvascular disease. Our study was aimed to assess the relationships between CTh and clinic and 24-h BP and between CTh and estimated 24-h aortic pulse pressure (aPP), 24-h aortic systolic BP (aSBP), and 24-h aortic augmentation index (aAIx) in a group of hypertensive patients. We enrolled 158 hypertensive subjects (mean age 48 ± 13 years) all of which underwent evaluation of the choroidal district by Swept-Source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and 24-h BP monitoring, in order to measure periph…

R E L A Z I O N I T R A I N D I C E  D I R E S I S T E N Z A I N T R A PA R E N C H I M A L E R E N A L E E D E N S I TA’ VA S C O L A R E R E T I N I C A VA L U TATA M E D I A N T E A N G I O - O C T

An Elevated Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio Increases the Risk of Cardiovascular Events and of Renal Function Decline in Hypertensive Patients with CKD

Introduction: Many epidemiological studies have shown that low-grade chronic inflammation, estimated through the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), is linked to traditional and non-traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the potential prognostic role of NLR regarding the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the development of CV events in a cohort of renal and hypertensive patients. Methods: In this retrospective observational study, 403 patients consecutively attending our Nephrology and Hypertension clinics were included. At the baseline observation and control visits in all patients, in addition to the clinical-anamnestic eval…

The Renal Dangers of an Increased Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index

Although a number of longitudinal investigations assessed the ability of aortic PWV to predict the development of kidney disfunction or progression of renal disease, little is known about the association of CAVI with the risk of renal function deterioration. In the current issue of the American Journal of Hypertension is published a paper of Itano S et al, that add a new piece of evidence in this scenario. The authors analyzed data from the national health check-up system in Japan, including 24.297 participants with normal baseline kidney function. They found that those with CAVI measurements ≥8.1 had a higher risk for CKD events compared to their counterparts with CAVI measurements <8.1…