A perspective on aldosterone abnormalities.

Not all the varied clinical disorders in which aldosterone and the mineralocorticoid hormones are involved have been reviewed. Only those disorders in which the mineralocorticoid hormones and their regulatory factors are the principal cause of the biochemical and clinical abnormalities have been examined. These are many and varied. Appreciation of the extent and magnitude of their involvement in the regulation of blood pressure, body fluids, and electrolyte composition continues to grow. The major direct clinical impact of the mineralocorticoid hormones appears to be in two areas: hypertension and potassium homeostasis. Their part in the mosaic of hypertension is established in primary hyperaldosteronism, but they also appear to affect and modify the hypertensive process in primary or essential hypertension. The probe continues. Hypoaldosteronism is more than the rare occurrence associated with Addison's disease. It may be the clue to the presence of nonaldosterone mineralocorticoid excess syndromes, and is obviously of critical importance in an increasing number of patients with chronic renal failure of varied aetiologies.