If this is not your name, click here. Other Ophthalmic Surgery Organ Transplantation Orthopaedics Other Osteoarthritis Osteoporosis Otitis Otorhino. A common test used to screen hypertensive patients for primary aldosteronism may not detect as many cases as previously thought, according to researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Aldosterone decreases salt excretion, which in turn can lead to high blood pressure.
Patients with PA tend to have inadequate blood pressure control. Recent surveys indicate that these patients may account for 12 percent of the hypertensive population. In a media briefing, Gary Schwartz, MD, chairman of the Division of Hypertension and Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, told journalists that the increase in diagnosis of the condition has been attributed to the use of the ARR measurement tool. The ARR compares levels of aldosterone in the blood to that of renin, a hormone that leads to the production of protein which stimulates the production of aldosterone by the adrenal gland. The diagnosis of PA is made when a patient s ARR test is high, indicating that the levels of aldosterone are higher than the level of renin.