Is low-renin hypertension a stage in the development of essential hypertension or a diagnostic entity?

A study of the frequency distribution of plasma-renin concentration in 81 patients with essential hypertension produced no evidence of a distinct sub-population with low renin levels. An arbitrary dividing line was used, therefore, to define low-renin hypertension (36% of patinets). Patients in this group were older than those with normal renin levels, and there was a significant negative correlation between renin and age among all patients. Low-renin hypertension was not characterized by increased exchangeable sodium, but exchaneable postassium was significantly lower than in patients with normal plasma-renin. This difference became insignificant when five patients in the low-renin group with persistent hypokalaemia were excluded. It is concluded that low-renin hypertension does not represent a separate diagnostic entity but that plasma-renin falls with age in essential hypertension.