[Calcium and hypertension].

Epidemiological, metabolic and intervention studies provided evidence of the interrelationship of calcium and high blood pressure. Patients with essential hypertension and low renin levels respond by a rise of blood pressure to administration of salt, while the pressure declines after calcium administration. Patients with a high renin activity are less sensitive to salt and calcium. The mentioned findings are probably associated with an impaired calcium transmission through the cellular membrane; the structural background of the phenomenon is not known so far. An important finding is the favourable therapeutic effect of calcium channel blockers in hypertonic patients with a low renin activity and conversely a greater effect of inhibitors of the angiotensin convertin enzyme in patients with a high renin level.