Resumen

FIEDLER-VELASQUEZ, Eduardo  y  GOURZONG-TAYLOR, Charles. Epidemiología y patogenia de la hipertensión arterial esencial, rol de angiotensina II, óxido nítrico y endotelina. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2005, vol.47, n.3, pp.109-117. ISSN 0001-6002.

It is considered actually that high blood pressure represents a real public health problem. It is estimated that 1/6 of the world have high blood pressure and in some susceptible populations the prevalence it’s as high as much as 1 of 4 adults over 18 years old suffers from high blood pressure. In Costa Rica the situation is not different of what happens worldwide and is estimated that 15.0 % of the costarrican population have high blood pressure although the prevalence data are not actualized. The pathogenesis of essential high blood pressure remains unclear and the hypothesis that their origins were on the kidney and the heart are no longer valid because actual evidence demonstrates that this is a disease of the vascular endothelium where genetic, ambiental, humoral and inflammatory factors of the blood vessels induce vascular dysfunction. We discuss epidemiologic and genetic factors emphasizing on the pathogenic role of the angiotensin II, nitric oxide and endothelin genes

Palabras clave : Hypertension; epidemiology; patogenesis; genes; angiotesin II; nitric oxide; endothelin.