Liver dysfunction in hypertension.

Liver-function tests measured routinely in hypertensive patients attending the Glasgow Blood Pressure Clinic were abnormal in 15-8% of men and 6-2% of women. The patients studied appeared to be representative of the whole clinic population. Liver dysfunction was related to alcohol consumption, heavy body-weight, male sex, young age, and higher diastolic blood-pressure. It is suggested that alcohol and obesity were the principal causal factors and that fatty infiltration of the liver was the probable pathology. Liver dysfunction was unrelated to treatment. Alcohol use was found to be heavy in 12% of male patients attending the clinic, and this was probably an underestimate. The possibility that alcohol abuse may have a causal role in hypertension needs further study.