The etiology of hypertension remains unknown, but one fact is clearly established: no single cause is responsible. High blood pressure is the end result of a number of factors, both genetic and environmental, that may be quantitatively and qualitatively different in different individuals. Furthermore, blood pressure is distributed continuously in the population, with no clear [...]
Although blood pressure tends to rise with age, this is not an invariable phenomenon, and many societies have been described in which it remains low throughout life. The change with age appears to be determined culturally rather than genetically. A good example of this phenomenon is provided by a 30-yr observational study of Italian nuns [...]
The effects that a given level of perceived stress will have on the cardiovascular system will depend to some extent on the physiologic susceptibility of the individual. In other words, for a given intensity of a stressor, some individuals will be more reactive than others. In practice, it may be difficult to separate the physiologic [...]
