Salt taste threshold and its relation to blood pressure in normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents amongst indian adolescents

摘要

Hypertension is a major public health problem due to its high prevalence worldwide. Hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. This disease is known to have many deleterious effects on the body and is considered one of the most important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (1).There is still much uncertainty about the pathophysiology of hypertension. A small number of patients (2-5%) have an underlying renal or adrenal disease as the cause for their raised blood pressure, in the remainder (95%) however no clear single identifiable cause is found and their condition is labelled 'essential hypertension' (2, 3). Primary mechanism involved in the development of essential hypertension remains unclear, in part due to its multi-factorial origin.