Figure 2.

The prevalence of primary aldosteronism. The prevalence of “overt PA” among untreated and/or new patients with hypertension has been reported to be as high as 14%–15% when using liberalized diagnostic interpretations; however, the prevalence of milder forms of PA pathophysiology is much higher. Among the subset of hypertensive individuals with resistant hypertension, the prevalence of “overt PA” is at least 25%, although when employing more liberalized criteria to define overt PA, it could be as high as 50%. Beyond this categorical definition of PA, there exists a broad continuum of “PA pathophysiology” in resistant hypertension, providing 1 reason why MR antagonists are especially effective in this situation. Abbreviations: MR, mineralocorticoid receptor; PA, primary aldosteronism.