DIAGNOSTIC APPROACH TO ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION OF SUSPECTED SECONDARY CAUSE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE - A GUIDE TO THE INITIAL APPROACH

Abstract

Secondary Arterial Hypertension (AHT) is responsible for 5 to 10% of all cases of AHT and presents increased morbimortality when compared to primary AHT. Secondary AHT stems from a diverse group of medical conditions, which are potentially reversible, or even curable, through specific management approaches. The potential to effectively reverse this group of diseases and, by consequence, the associated AHT accounts for the need to promptly diagnose these forms of secondary AHT. Primary care (PC) physicians are generally the first line of medical care to the population and have a fundamental role in early diagnosis of secondary AHT, as well as in patient referral to hospital specialized consultation, if appropriate. In this series of articles, we propose a practical and simplified (but not, by any means, simplistic) approach to the diagnosis of AHT with suspected secondary etiology, within the primary health care setting. With this group of articles, we aim to provide to PC physicians a diagnosis guide to support the approach to patients with suspected secondary AHT, a clinical challenge that must be based on a constant cooperation between PC and hospital teams dedicated to study this clinical entity.