Urinary kallikrein excretion in essential and mineralocorticoid hypertension.

Urinary kallikrein excretion has been reported to be decreased in patients with essential hypertension and elevated in patients with primary aldosteronism as a reflection of mineralocorticoid activity. Low renin essential hypertension (LREH) has been postulated to result from excess production of an unknown mineralocorticoid(s). Urinary kallikrein excretion was compared in outpatients with essential hypertension, mineralocorticoid hypertension (primary aldosteronism and 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency), and in normal subjects of the same race.