[Hypertension in metabolic syndrome. Etiology and consequences]

Essential hypertension in patients with the metabolic syndrome is regularly associated with other metabolic disorders. Thus, most hypertensives are overweight and have a glucose intolerance, while many have concomitant hyperproteinemia and dyslipoproteinemia. Up until fairly recently, it was not known that so-called insulin resistance is a common denominator both of metabolic risk factors and hypertension. In recent years, our knowledge about insulin resistance has spawned an equally convincing and fascinating multidimensional concept which reveals and plausibly explains complex relationships between metabolism, hypertension and the coronary risk.