Essential hypertension is characterized by increased peripheral vascular resistance to blood flow. The endothelium is a crucial regulator of vascular tone. Its function is impaired in patients with hypertension, with reduced vasodilation, increased vascular tone associated with a proinflammatory and prothrombotic state. Low-grade inflammation localized in vascular tissue is therefore recognized as an important contributor to the pathophysiology of hypertension, to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis as well as to the development of cardiovascular diseases.

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Prevalence of ILVM and LVD is higher in patients without clinostatic RAAS suppression. Our findings encourage the assessment of RAAS deregulation to better estimate individual cardiovascular risk in patients with arterial hypertension.

Isolated hyperreninemia or hyperaldosternism determines a similar impairment of the right ventricular function, whereas their combination is further detrimental. Renin and aldosterone may represent early biomarkers of right ventricular dysfunction in hypertension.

No abstract