[Long-term regulation of arterial pressure and essential hypertension--II. Essential hypertension]

Although the mechanisms underlying the development of essential hypertension remain elusive, many observations point to the kidney as a primary actor and sodium as the main culprit (external factor) for development of hypertension. Dietary sodium has been existed for several thousands years in human being and it seems to be a civilized food habit. However, over the last few decades, experimental, observational and clinical data have continuously indicated that excess salt intake is positively associated with elevated blood pressure. It was also found that aged people is easier to be suffered from essential hypertension. By now, essential hypertension is frequently considered as a "civilized" disease, a disease of the kidney and the disease frequently occurring in the aged people. In the present mini review these features of essential hypertension are discussed in more details.