Urinary albumin excretion at follow-up predicts cardiovascular outcomes in subjects with resistant hypertension.

Background: Renal function and albuminuria predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) in general population. However, their prognostic value in patients with resistant hypertension (RH) is somewhat unknown.

Objective: To determine the ability of renal function and albuminuria to predict CVD in RH patients.

Increased pulse pressure is associated with left atrial enlargement in resistant hypertensive patients.

Resistant hypertension (RH) is frequently associated with a high prevalence of target organ damage, which impairs the prognosis of these patients. Considering cardiac alterations in RH, most attention has been devoted to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but data concerning left atrial enlargement (LAE) is less known. This cross-sectional study assessed the factors associated with LAE, with special focus on blood pressure (BP) estimates obtained by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), in 250 patients with RH, aged 64 ± 11 years.

Abnormalities of vascular function in resistant hypertension.

We aimed to evaluate markers of vascular dysfunction in patients with resistant hypertension (RH). A group of 144 patients (61 years, 42% women) with essential RH were divided in two groups based on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). True RH (72%) was considered when 24-h blood pressure (BP) was ≥ 130 and/or 80 mmHg.

[Prevalence of target organ damage and metabolic abnormalities in resistant hypertension].

Background And Objective: Patients with resistant hypertension (RH) are relatively frequently visited in specialized units of hypertension. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of target organ damage, central obesity and metabolic syndrome in a cohort of patients with RH consecutively included in the Register of Resistant Hypertension of the Spanish Society of Hypertension (SHE-LELHA).

Patients And Methods: Cross-sectional, multicenter epidemiologic study in usual clinical practice conditions.

[Prevalence of target organ damage and factors associated with cardiovascular events in subjects with refractory hypertension].

Objectives: To asses the prevalence of target organ damage (TOD) and factors associated with cardiovascular events in subjects with refractory hypertension.

Patients And Methods: Cross-sectional study of 146 patients with clinical diagnosis of refractory hypertension. TOD was defined as the presence of microalbuminuria (MA), renal failure (RF), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) or left atrial enlargement (LAE).

Gender differences in office and ambulatory control of hypertension.

Background: Gender differences in hypertension control have not been explored fully.

Methods: We studied 15,212 white men and 13,936 white women with treated hypertension who were drawn from the Spanish Ambulatory Blood Pressure Registry. For each participant, we obtained office blood pressure (BP) (average of 2 readings) and 24-hour ambulatory BP (average of measurements performed every 20 minutes during day and night).

Blood pressure in the initial phase of acute ischaemic stroke: evolution and its role as an independent prognosis factor at discharge and after 3 months of follow-up.

Background: A prospective observational study was aimed at assessing the role of blood pressure (BP) during the first 24 h from stroke onset on the outcome of acute ischaemic stroke.

Methods: Subjects admitted within the first 3 h from stroke onset were included. Stroke severity was evaluated with the Canadian Stroke Scale (CSS).

Clinical characteristics of isolated clinic hypertension.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with isolated clinic hypertension (ICH) compared with other hypertensive patients, and to evaluate the capacity of physicians to predict a diagnosis of ICH.

Methods: A cross-sectional, comparative multicenter descriptive study was made of 6176 hypertensive individuals without pharmacological treatment, subjected to ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). In 2611 cases, ABPM was prescribed due to suspected ICH.

Reproducibility of the circadian blood pressure pattern in 24-h versus 48-h recordings: the Spanish Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Registry.

Objectives: To assess the reproducibility of the circadian blood pressure (BP) pattern over a 48-h period by comparing the first 24 h of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) with the following 24 h and with the mean over 48 h.

Patients And Methods: Patients undergoing 48-h ABPM within the National ABPM Registry of the Spanish Society of Hypertension, based on 800 Spacelabs 90207 monitors distributed throughout Spain in hypertension units and primary healthcare centres, were included. Between June 2004 and September 2005, 611 valid 48-h ABPM recordings were obtained, 235 corresponded to patients without antihypertensive treatment.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risk: a cross-sectional analysis of a 20,000-patient database in Spain.

Objective: To evaluate ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) parameters in a broad sample of high-risk hypertensive patients.

Methods: The Spanish Society of Hypertension is developing a nationwide project in which more than 900 physicians send ABPM registries and corresponding clinical records to a central database via www.cardiorisc.

[Clustering of cardiovascular risk factors and prevalence of metabolic syndrome in subjects with resistant hypertension].

Background And Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse the clustering of cardiovascular risk factors and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in this sample of subjects with resistant hypertension (RH).

Patients And Method: One hundred and fifteen subjects with RH were sequentially included. RH was defined as a level of office blood pressure (BP)>or=140/90 mmHg in subjects treated with at least 3 antihypertensive drugs (one of them a diuretic) during at least 2 months and with good compliance.

Cardiac damage in hypertensive patients with inverse white coat hypertension. Hospitalet study.

Background: Few studies have assessed the relationship between ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and cardiac damage in essential hypertensive patients with inverse white coat hypertension (IWCH).

Objectives: To determine the frequency of IWCH in untreated grade 1-2 hypertension and to assess possible differences in cardiac damage among patients with IWCH, white coat hypertension (WCH) and the rest of patients with grade 1-2 hypertension.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and eleven patients with grade 1-2 hypertension were sequentially included.