Does antihypertensive treatment restore normal sympathetic activity in patients with hypertension?
Antihypertensive therapy controls blood pressure but fails to normalize sympathetic overactivity, which may contribute to residual cardiovascular risk.
Thus, antihypertensive treatment, even when effective in achieving BP control, fails to restore the level of normotension-related MSNA, with a persistence of the pattern of heightened sympathetic influences typical of untreated patients with hypertension. Failure of normalization may contribute to the development of the residual cardiovascular risk reported in treated hypertensives.
Quarti‐Trevano et al. (Fri,) studied this question.