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Rarity of hypertensive stigmata in aging renocortical arteries of Bolivians

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Abstract

Numerous reports have accumulated from around the world throughout the twentieth century of small, remote, self-sufficient populations that do not show a rise of blood pressure with age. Knowing that renocortical arteriosclerosis, a defining feature of hypertensive nephrosclerosis, is a close commensurate of blood pressure, it can be predicted that the elderly members of such populations should fail to show arteriosclerosis of hypertensive degree in the renal cortex. Emigrants from such populations sometimes come to medical attention in places like La Paz, Bolivia. Reported here are findings in autopsy samples of kidney tissue examined in La Paz. These samples have revealed remarkably little renovasculopathy at all ages up to 80 years, a phenomenon that has not previously been observed. Because of these findings, it can now be seen as biologically possible for a whole population of elderly persons to avoid renovasculopathy of hypertensive degree, and by implication, perhaps never experience hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Louisiana State Medical Center, 1901 Perdido Street, 70112, New Orleans, LA, USA

    R. E. Tracy

  2. Faculdad de Medicina, Enfermeria Nutrition y Tecnologia Medica, Universidad Mayor de San Andres, Avenida Saavedra No 2246, Casilla No 10367, La Paz, Bolivia

    J. Rios-Dalenz

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  1. R. E. Tracy
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  2. J. Rios-Dalenz
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Tracy, R.E., Rios-Dalenz, J. Rarity of hypertensive stigmata in aging renocortical arteries of Bolivians. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 424, 307–314 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00194616

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00194616

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