[Sodium and left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertension]

Dietary sodium is an environmental factor capable of amplifying or limiting the consequences of hypertension on the heart. In a given population of hypertensive subjects, recent clinical trials have shown a positive relationship between sodium intake and the degree of left ventricular hypertrophy, independently of the value of blood pressure and body weight. In addition, dietary sodium could play a role in modulating the myocardial response to a decrease in blood pressure by antihypertensive therapy. The logical consequence of these observations is to try and prove the possible advantages of restricting dietary sodium in reducing the blood pressure and reversing left ventricular hypertrophy. With this in mind, the evaluation of dietary sodium excretion is certainly an element to take into account in the initial evaluation and also the follow-up of hypertensive subjects and of the effects of antihypertensive therapy.