PHRENIC OR POSTEMPHYSEMATOUS HYPERTENSION

Abstract

THE EXTENT of the concept of essential hypertension, after subtracting secondary forms related to increased cardiac output, increased intracranial pressure, and lesions of the adrenals or anomalies of the kidney, is largely determined by the standards chosen for the upper limits of normal blood pressure. Bell 1 states that blood pressure of 140/90 mm. Hg or higher occurs in about 50% of men and 60% of women over the age of 40. On the other hand, Master and co-workers 2 found in patients of 44 years of age and over an incidence of hypertension varying from 22 to 35%, taking as the upper limits of normal 150/100 mm. Hg. The consensus of statistics indicates that the incidence of hypertension in the general population is between 20 and 25%, if 95 mm. Hg for the diastolic pressure is taken as the dividing line between normal and abnormal. Recently Master and co-workers