Effects of Salt Intake on the Nervous Systems of Patients With Salt-Sensitive High Blood Pressure

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hypertension; Hyperaldosteronism

Study type: Observational

Funder types: NIH

Identifiers

NCT00001176

810081

81-H-0081

Details and patient eligibility

About

Some patients with high blood pressure can experience an increase of blood pressure by 10 percent or more by taking in salt. These patients are referred to as having "salt-sensitive" (SS) hypertension.

Previous studies conducted on patients with salt sensitive hypertension suggest that their portion of the nervous system responsible for maintaining normal blood pressure (autonomic nervous system) may respond differently to salt than patients with non-salt sensitive (NSS) hypertension.

This study is designed to examine the response of the nervous system to high doses of salt in patients with salt-sensitive hypertension and patients with non-salt sensitive hypertension.

Full description

A subset of patients with idiopathic hypertension shows an increase in blood pressure of 10 percent or more in response to salt-loading and have been termed "salt-sensitive" (SS). Limited studies of adrenergic function in response to salt-loading suggest that the response of SS patients may differ from that of non-salt sensitive (NSS) patients. The present studies were designed to examine the response of the adrenergic and dopaminergic systems to salt-loading in SS and NSS patients with idiopathic hypertension.

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Eligibility criteria not identified in protocol.