Low peripheral plasma renin activity as a critical marker in pediatric hypertension

In evaluating hypertensive children and adolescents, the etiological considerations should include a set of inherited disorders that share very low plasma renin activity (PRA) as a common feature. In particular among these disorders, glucocorticoid remediable aldosteronism (GRA) appears to be emerging as an important etiology of hypertension in the pediatric population. We report the evaluation of a 9-year-old Caucasian girl who presented with severe hypertension and a strong family history of early-onset hypertension. Her suppressed PRA, her family history, and her failure to respond to conventional anti-hypertensive therapy raised GRA as a potential etiology. The diagnosis was confirmed by an elevated ratio of urinary 18-oxotetrahydrocortisol to urinary tetrahydroaldosterone and genetic testing, which demonstrated the chimeric gene duplication. The molecular pathogenesis of GRA and the clinical implications are reviewed.