[Affective temperaments (cyclothymic, hypertymic, depressive, anxious, irritable) are stable parts of personality and after adolescent only their minor changes are detectable. Their connections with psychopathology is well-described; depressive temperament plays role in major depression, cyclothymic temperament in bipolar II disorder, while hyperthymic temperament in bipolar I disorder. Moreover, scientific data of the last decade suggest, that affective temperaments are also associated with somatic diseases. Cyclothymic temperament is supposed to have the closest connection with hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension is higher parallel with the presence of dominant cyclothymic affective temperament and in this condition the frequency of cardiovascular complications in hypertensive patients was also described to be higher. In chronic hypertensive patients cyclothymic temperament score is positively associated with systolic blood pressure and in women with the earlier development of hypertension. The background of these associations is probably based on the more prevalent presence of common risk factors (smoking, obesity, alcoholism) with more pronounced cyclothymic temperament. The scientific importance of the research of the associations of personality traits including affective temperaments with somatic disorders can help in the identification of higher risk patient subgroups.]

[Hypertension is one of the most frequent disease in Hungary and one of the most important cardiovascular risk factor. Treating to target, significantly lower the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke chronic renal disease and mortality too. In treating of hypertension after life style therapy drug treatment has an essential role. In essential hypertension patients need to treat to the end of their life. Therefore patient adherence plays a significant role in the success of the treatment. The complexity of medication regimen and characteristic of drug class, age and gender all have influence the patient adherence. In Hungary the one year persistence of ramipril/amlodipine fixed dose combination was 20 percent higher than ramipril amlodipine free combination and ramipril/amlodipine fixed dose combination was 25 percent higher than ramipril/hydrochlorothiazide fixed dose combination.]

[Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than 50% of Hungarian mortality and hypertension accounts for almost 50% of coronary heart disease and for more than 60% of stroke. High salt intake increases blood pressure and major and sustained consumption may cause high blood pressure. In Hungary more than 2.5 million people have hypertension and among them only 44% have their blood pressure under 140/90 mm Hg. Achieving target blood pressure is difficult as salt intake of the Hungarian population is higher than that recommended in every age group. Blood pressure control consists of proper combination of medical treatment and of nonmedical procedures. Among non-medical procedures weight loss, increase of physical activity, Mediterranean diet and decrease of salt intake are of value in blood pressure lowering. A daily salt intake of less than 6 grams is recommended in the Hungarian guideline and in the European one the recommendation is more rigorous. However in Hungary average salt intake is 18 grams among men and 14 grams among women. Responsibility of the individual person is inevitable in preserving health and preventing disease. A perfect example for this is the change of salt intake habits as it is demonstrated that decreasing salt intake results in the decrease of blood pressure. A daily decrease of 5 grams in salt intake results in 23% less stroke and 17% less cardiovascular disease. The Hungarian Society of Hypertension has joined among the first to the Hungarian Salt Intake Decreasing Programme and thus its activity is aimed at strengthening the public health subset of the Hungarian Cardiovascular Programme.]

[Worldwide, screening in the general population detects an increase in serum uric acid levels in both sexes. This growth trend is also valid for hypertension. Authors studied the incidence of serum uric acid levels and its correlation with age, risk factors, anthropological, metabolic characteristics, blood pressure, blood pressure target, organ damage, age-related co-morbidity and drug therapy in 47,372 hypertensive patients (22,688 males, 24,684 women). In the first part of their analysis they present the method of analysis and the basic correlations. The uric acid level is higher in men than in women, with the advancement of age increasing. Increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure are associated with increases in serum uric acid levels, with a tendency for systolic pressure to be significantly higher. For ladies, the rising trend is smaller and always lower in uric acid values. The uric acid value is higher in patients with the non-target blood pressure. The presence of co-morbidity significantly increases serum uric acid levels.]

[It is known that hypertension shows several gender specific elements both in pathogenesis and in therapy. Understanding this phenomenon may bring us closer to individualized therapy. That was the reason why we examined process of hypertensive adaptation on the level of small intramural coronary arteries. 10-10 male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. Animals received osmotic pumps in anaesthesia, which emitted 100 ng/bwkg/min angiotensin II acetate for four weeks. After four weeks treatment, animals were sacrified and heart weights were measured. We isolated intramural, small branches of the left anterior descendant coronary artery, placed them into vessel chamber and tested biomechanical properties and pharmacological reactivity. Heart weight and wall thickness were higher in females comparing to males. However, basal vascular tone and thromboxane-mediated vasoconstriction were elevated in males. Bradykinin relaxation was bigger in females. In female animals inward eutrophic remodeling was found, while in males increased wall stress and elastic moduli dominated the adaptation process. In conclusion, initial steps of angiotensin II mediated hypertension induced markedly gender dependent alterations.]