What is endocrine hypertension?

  As the standard of living improves and human life expectancy increases, the incidence/prevalence of hypertension is increasing year by year. We usually classify hypertension into: primary hypertension: i.e., hypertension of unknown cause; and secondary hypertension: i.e., a definite cause of elevated blood pressure can be found. Among them, endocrine hypertension is the main type of secondary hypertension.  The so-called endocrine hypertension is caused by the inappropriate secretion of too many hormones that can cause blood pressure to rise, such as renin, angiotensin, aldosterone, catecholamines, growth hormone, glucocorticoids and so on.  The following is a brief introduction to several common diseases of endocrine hypertension.  1, primary aldosteronism: due to adrenal cortical aldosterone tumor or hyperplasia caused by increased release of aldosterone leads to hypertension, 50% of patients can be accompanied by hypokalemia. The latest data found that in the hypertensive population, primary aldosterone patients can account for 10-15%.  2, pheochromocytoma: due to adrenal medullary tumors or extra-adrenal tissue secretion of large amounts of catecholamines lead to increased blood pressure, hypertension is characterized by sudden, rapid increase in blood pressure, accompanied by headache, palpitations, sweating symptoms.  3, Cushing syndrome: due to adrenal or pituitary tumors or hyperplasia, secretion of large amounts of glucocorticoids leads to increased blood pressure. Patients are often accompanied by symptoms such as centripetal obesity, weakness, low resistance and polycystic ovaries.  4, acromegaly: due to pituitary tumors secrete a lot of growth hormone resulting in increased blood pressure, such patients are accompanied by hands and feet significantly larger than normal, the face becomes ugly and other symptoms.  It seems that hypertension is not all primary hypertension, but a considerable number of patients have elevated blood pressure due to endocrine factors. For endocrine hypertension, as long as it is found in time and the causes are removed as soon as possible, hypertension can be well controlled.  Therefore, patients with hypertension should be alerted to endocrine hypertension if the following factors are present, and should seek timely medical consultation for systematic examination.  1. Young age at the onset of hypertension, less than 40 years old, or even less than 30 years old.  2, accompanied by the above special manifestations of endocrine hypertension, such as hypokalemia, sudden hypertension, obesity and acromegaly, etc.  3, early history of cardiovascular disease. (Less than 45 years old) 4, conventional antihypertensive effect is not good.  Secondary hypertension is different from primary hypertension and is curable. The key is to consult a doctor as early as possible to remove the cause of the disease as soon as possible.