Salt Sensitivity Hypertension and Lens Opacities

Salt-sensitive hypertension (SSH) accounts for about the half of all Hypertension (HT) cases .In SSH, Na+/K+-ATPase activity is impaired. Impaired Na+/K+-ATPase activity in the lens epithelium results in cortical opacities in the peripheral equator of the lens. This study analyzed 305 patients with hypertension aged between 40 and 80 years and 124 non-HT controls. A total of 163 patients with HT who were admitted to the emergency service at least once with a minimum increase of 10% in their systolic and diastolic blood pressure after consuming salted food met the eligible criteria for HT and were included in the SSH group. A total of 142 patients who were previously diagnosed with HT but had no previous history were considered non-SSH. Two researchers examined the presence of cortical lens opacities biomicroscopically using the diffuse, direct, Scheimpflug, and retroillumination from fundus methods.