Hypertension and C-reactive protein

Abstract

The recently released World Health Statistics report revealed that one in every 3–4 adults aged 25 worldwide has hypertension.1 According to this report, hypertension is singlehandedly responsible for 13% of all global deaths, 51% of stroke deaths, and 45% of coronary heart disease deaths. Hypertension therefore remains a major public health concern that is associated with substantial healthcare costs. The majority of hypertension (with the exception of secondary hypertension) has no direct identifiable cause. The discovery of novel causal factors of hypertension, or its downstream effects, can lead to more effective therapeutic interventions, which has the potential to translate into millions of lives and money saved. Despite the frequently used but misleading terms of ‘essential’ and ‘idiopathic’ hypertension, much is known about its pathophysiology. Vascular inflammation indeed has an important role in the genesis and progression of hypertension as recently reviewed by Androulakis et al.2