Changes in the acid-base equilibrium in essential hypertension.

In a study of a group of hospitalized patients in whom there was no reason to suspect a disturbed acid-base balance, it was found that a few patients had low blood pH values. The only factor in common to these patients with the low pH values was that all had essential hypertension. It has been demonstrated in human subjects that experimental hypertension can be produced with desoxycorticosterone when sodium chloride is administered simultaneously (1); that there is a relationship between the ratio of sodium to chloride in essential hypertension and the severity of the hypertension (2); and that the restriction of sodium chloride has a beneficial effect in the treatment of patients with essential hypertension (3). This evidence of changes in ionic equilibrium of the blood in patients with essential hypertension prompted further investigation to determine whether an increased hydrogen ion concentration of the arterial blood was common in this disease.