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Epidemiology of Risk Factors for Hypertension

Implications for Prevention and Therapy

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Abstract

We review the present knowledge of risk factors for arterial hypertension. Both genetic and environmental factors as well as their interaction and biological plausibility are reviewed. Recent data confirm that the interaction of genetics with multiple environmental risk factors explains the high prevalence of hypertension in the industrialised countries. The most important modifiable environmental risk factors are high salt intake, alcohol intake, obesity and low physical activity.

The role of stress in the aetiology of high blood pressure is still under investigation, but recent clinical experimental and epidemiological data have shed light on how stress could be related to hypertension.

The implications for prevention and treatment are discussed both at the population and individual levels. The population approach involves a public health policy aiming at modification of the major risk factors. The individual approach involves nonpharmacological measures to prevent the development of hypertension and to treat high normal blood pressure and mild hypertension with no additional cardiovascular risk factors. Pharmacological treatment of hypertension in most individuals should use agents that have been proven to be effective in randomised controlled trials with ‘hard’ endpoints such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus Erasme-CP597, Route de Lennik 808, B-1070, Brussels, Belgium

    Marcel Kornitzer & Michelle Dramaix

  2. Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Guy De Backer

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  1. Marcel Kornitzer
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  2. Michelle Dramaix
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Correspondence to Marcel Kornitzer.

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Kornitzer, M., Dramaix, M. & De Backer, G. Epidemiology of Risk Factors for Hypertension. Drugs 57, 695–712 (1999). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-199957050-00003

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