Endocrine Abstracts

Younger people with high blood pressure are 28% less likely to be diagnosed than older people. Arterial hypertension warrants further investigations to exclude secondary causes of hypertension in young people (aged <40 years).

Objectives: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study to investigate the characteristics hospitalized hypertensive young adults (<40 years) in our department.

Results: The sample included 84 patients: 25 mens (29.8%) and 59 womens (70.2%). A familial history of hypertension was noted in 67.8% cases. Among all patients, headaches (30%) were the most common presenting symptom, followed by palpitations in (24%) and flushing in (2%), but the diagnosis of hypertension was fortuitos in (46%). The complications of the hypertension included hypertensive nephropathy in (23%), retinopathy in (10%), transient ischemic stroke in (7.1%) and left ventricular hypertrophy in (13%). The investigations concluded to an essential hypertension in the majority of cases (79.8%). Secondary hypertension included obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (7.1%), a primary aldosteronism (3.6%), Cushing’s syndrome (2.3%), a phéochromocytoma (1.19%), renal artery stenosis (2.3%), Basedow’s desease (1.19%), corticosurrénaloma (1.19%), macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia (1.19%).

Conclusion: Hypertension in young adults is increasing in frequency. While classic teaching dictates that secondary causes are more common in young adults, rates of essential hypertension are progressively rising. This can be explained by the high incidence of metabolic syndrome in young adults.