Research Article Mild Adrenal Steroidogenic Defects and ACTH-Dependent Aldosterone Secretion in High Blood Pressure: Preliminary Evidence

License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Introduction. Adrenal glands play a major role in the control of blood pressure and mild defects of steroidogenesis and/or inappropriate control of mineralocorticoid production have been reported in high blood pressure (HBP). Patients andMethods. We used a specific protocol for the evaluation of 100 consecutive patients with inappropriate or recent onset HBP. Specificmethods were used to confirm HBP and to diagnose secondary forms of HBP. In addition we tested adrenal steroidogenesis with the common cosyntropin test, modified to include the simultaneous measurement of renin and aldosterone besides 17-hydroxyprogesteron