High prevalence and a long delay in the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism among patients with young‐onset hypertension

Background Despite being the most common cause of secondary hypertension, prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) among patients with young‐onset hypertension (YH ‐ age of hypertension onset 5 ng/dl underwent adrenal computed tomography (CT), followed by adrenal venous sampling (AVS). Results Of 202 YH patients, 38 (18.8%) screened positive, and PA was confirmed in 36 (17.8%). The mean age was 43.9 ± 10.9 years, and median duration of hypertension was 10.5 (3.5–18) years. The prevalence of PA increased with grade of hypertension (8.1% in grade 1 to 37.1% in grade 3), number of antihypertensive medications (2.5% in those taking ≤1 to 50% in those taking ≥4 medications) and severity of hypokalaemia (0% in potassium >5 to 85.7% in potassium