Low renin hypertensive states: perspectives, unsolved problems, future research

Some causes of low renin hypertension are familial with known genetic bases. One of them, primary aldosteronism, is specifically treatable by mineralocorticoid receptor blockers or by surgery, and has at least two different familial varieties. These have provided insights into its natural history, with long normotensive and normokalemic phases, and variable expression within the same family. Primary aldosteronism was considered rare, but recent work beginning in 1992 suggests that it might be the most common curable cause of hypertension, worth screening for in every hypertensive. Evidence is now compelling that inappropriate aldosterone for salt status can cause not only hypertension, but vascular inflammation and end-organ damage, preventable by mineralocorticoid receptor blockade.