Autopsy study of adrenals in unselected normotensive and hypertensive patients.

The records of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital of Montreal, a general teaching hospital, provided 2425 consecutive autopsies done between January 1, 1955 and January 1, 1965. According to the diagnostic criteria used, 44.2% of the patients were hypertensive. Adrenal adenomas, nodules or hyperplasia were found in 7% of the hypertensive patients and in only 1.9% of the normotensive ones. The most frequently encountered lesion was adenoma (4.2% in the hypertensive population and 1.1% in the normotensive one). These results constitute supportive evidence for a low incidence of "normokalemic primary aldosteronism".