Our study confirms that LVH is highly prevalent in patients with CKD; in this population, LVH is often inappropriate and characterized by the simultaneous increase of wall thicknesses and diameters.

Our findings are a clear-cut demonstration of a strong and negative correlation of both oxidative stress and ET-1 with renal function stages in HT. ET-1 and 8-isoprostane are predictive of eGFR.

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Abstract. Mulè G, Nardi E, Cottone S, Cusimano P, Volpe V, Piazza G, Mongiovì R, Mezzatesta G, Andronico G, Cerasola G (Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy). Influence of metabolic syndrome on hypertension-related target organ damage. J Intern Med 2005; 257: 503-513.Objectives. The aim of our study was to analyse, in a wide group of essential hypertensive patients without diabetes mellitus, the influence of metabolic syndrome (MS) (defined according to the criteria laid down in the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults) on markers of preclinical cardiac, renal and retinal damage. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Outpatient hypertension clinic. Subjects and methods. A total of 353 young and middle-aged hypertensives, free from cardiovascular and renal diseases (and 37% of whom had MS), underwent echocardiographic examination, microalbuminuria determination and non-mydriatic retinography.Results. When compared with subjects without MS, hypertensive patients with MS exhibited more elevated left ventricular (LV) mass (either normalized by body surface area or by height elevated by a power of 2.7), higher myocardial relative wall thickness, albumin excretion rate (AER) and a greater prevalence of LV hypertrophy (57.7% vs. 25.1%; P < 0.00001), of microalbuminuria (36.2% vs. 19.3%; P ¼ 0.002) and of hypertensive retinopathy (87.7% vs. 48.4%; P < 0.00001). These results held even after correction for age, 24-h blood pressures, duration of hypertension, previous antihypertensive therapy, and gender distribution. The independent relationships between LV mass and MS, and between AER and MS, were confirmed in multivariate regression models including MS together with its individual components. Conclusions. MS may amplify hypertension-related cardiac and renal changes, over and above the potential contribution of each single component of this syndrome. As these markers of target organ damage are well-known predictors of cardiovascular events, our results may partly explain the enhanced cardiovascular risk associated with MS.

The present study confirms the high prevalence of LVH in patients with mild or moderate renal dysfunction. In the patients studied (all with a GFR of 30 mL/min per 1.73 m(2)), the association between LVM and GFR was independent of potential confounders, including 24 h blood pressure load. Taking into account the negative prognostic impact of LVH, further studies focusing on a deeper comprehension of the mechanisms underlying the development of LVH in chronic kidney disease patients are needed.

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AASI is inversely related to GFR in arterial hypertension. This may help to explain the increased CV risk associated with mild-to-moderate renal dysfunction.

The elevated levels of clinic and 24-h PP observed in hypertensive patients with MS may reflect increased large arteries stiffness and may therefore contribute to explain the enhanced cardiovascular risk associated with MS.