Role of catecholamines in young adults with essential hypertension

• Main Authors: Abdullah, Aszrin, Mohd Shah, Azarisman Shah, Abdul Razak, Tariq, Mohd Noor, Noriah
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/10257/1/ROLE_OF_CATECHOLAMINES_IN_YOUNG_ADULTS_WITH_ESSENTIAL_HYPERTENSION.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/10257/; http://www.msh.my

Background: Hypertension is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide, and blood pressure (BP) control is poor. Adrenaline has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. Objective: The aim of this study is to ascertain the role of adrenaline and noradrenaline (NA) in young pre-hypertensive and mildly hypertensive subjects using standardized and improved methods in patient preparation, blood sample collection and analysis. Methods and Materials: A total of 484 subjects were screened at a primary health care clinic in Kuantan, Malaysia. 91 subjects with systolic and diastolic BP ranges of between 120 - 159 mmHg and 80 - 99 mmHg respectively (pre- and mildly hypertensive groups) and optimally normotensive, age-matched controls between the ages of 20 and 45 were enrolled into a cross-sectional study. Simple demographic data, blood samples for plasma catecholamine and BP were observed. Reversed-phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography with electrochemical detection was used for the determination of plasma catecholamine. Results: The mean age of the subjects were 32.17 ± 6.21 years. In the patient groups, 46.30% had pre-hypertension BP and 53.70% had mild hypertension. Plasma adrenaline, NA and dopamine levels in the patient group (26.58 ± 36.04, 94.43 + 166.54, 52.43 ± 66.62) were significantly greater (p = 0.01, 0.02, 0.02) than age matched-controls with optimally normotensive BP (12.04 ± 9.93, 37.18 + 62.14, 27.06 ± 34.49). Statistically significant differences in plasma adrenaline and dopamine levels were seen between the pre-hypertensive and optimally normotensive BP groups (p=0.002 and p=0.01, respectively). The pre-hypertensive BP group’s plasma adrenaline were also significantly higher than mild hypertension group (p=0.04). Within the patient groups, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) was weakly correlated with plasma adrenaline (r= -0.34, p=0.01), NA (r= -0.28, p=0.04) and dopamine levels (r= -0.29, p=0.04). Conclusion: Our study has shown that there is increased plasma adrenaline in young, pre- and mildly hypertensive subjects. There is also a weak inverse relationship between adrenaline and the MAP. It appears to support adrenaline’s role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in very early stages of hypertension development.