Prevalence and clinical correlates of right ventricular hypertrophy in essential hypertension.

Aim: Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) has been reported to be a component of cardiac damage in systemic hypertension; this evidence, however, is based on small studies and major determinants of biventricular hypertrophy are still undefined. Thus, the prevalence and clinical correlates of RVH have been investigated in essential hypertension.

Methods: A total of 330 untreated and treated uncomplicated essential hypertensives consecutively attending a hospital out-patient hypertension clinic were considered for the analysis.

Is retinal arteriolar-venular ratio associated with cardiac and extracardiac organ damage in essential hypertension?

Aim: Whether retinal microvascular disease is associated with markers of cardiac and extracardiac organ damage in human hypertension is still unclear. We examined the relationship between retinal arteriolar-venular ratio (AVR) and left ventricular hypertrophy, carotid atherosclerosis and microalbuminuria in essential hypertension.

Methods: A total of 386 untreated and treated uncomplicated essential hypertensive individuals (mean age 56 +/- 13 years) consecutively attending our hospital outpatient hypertension clinic were considered for the analysis.

Left and right ventricular structural changes in obese hypertensives.

Aim: Obesity is known to be independently related to left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH); however, in human hypertension the association of obesity with right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) is still unsettled. We investigated the relationship of obesity with RVH and biventricular hypertrophy in essential hypertension.

Methods: A cohort of untreated and treated uncomplicated essential hypertensives consecutively attending a hospital outpatient hypertension clinic, categorized in three groups according to body mass index (BMI) thresholds (<25, 25-29.

Reproducibility of dipping/nondipping pattern in untreated essential hypertensive patients: impact of sex and age.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the intrasubject short-term reproducibility of nocturnal blood pressure patterns (dipping/nondipping) in essential hypertensive patients in relation to age (<50 and > or =50 years) and sex.

Methods: A total of 619 never-treated essential grade 1 and 2 hypertensive patients (383 men, 236 women) underwent the following procedures: (1) repeated clinic blood pressure measurements, (2) routine examinations, (3) ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over two 24-h periods within 4 weeks. Dipping pattern was defined as a 10%, or more, reduction in average systolic blood pressure/ diastolic blood pressure at night compared to daytime values.