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Predictors of plasma and urinary catecholamine levels in normotensive and hypertensive men and women

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 28, pages 292–297 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Age, sex, hypertension and dietary sodium are proposed to affect plasma and urinary catecholamines. Yet no prior study has examined the simultaneous effects of these factors within the same study population. So results may have been confounded by factors not determined. We investigate, for the first time, the impact of simultaneously determined predictors of plasma and urinary catecholamines and the relationship of catecholamines with the diagnosis of hypertension. Hypertensive and normotensive subjects (n=308) were studied off antihypertensives in liberal and low sodium balance. 24 h urinary catecholamines (norepinephrine and epinephrine) were measured. Plasma catecholamines were measured supine after overnight fast. Repeated measures multivariate linear regression models examined the effect of sex, race, age, body mass index (BMI), dietary salt (liberal salt vs low salt), hypertension status and mean arterial pressure (MAP) on plasma and urinary catecholamines. Logistic regression determined the relationship of catecholamines with diagnosis of hypertension. Dietary sodium restriction and increasing age predicted increased plasma and urinary norepinephrine, with sodium restriction having the greatest effect. Female sex predicted lower urinary and plasma epinephrine. Neither plasma nor urinary catecholamines predicted the diagnosis of hypertension. In summary, specific demographic factors variably impact catecholamines and should be considered when assessing catecholamines in research and clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the fellows, trainees and nursing staff who have contributed to the studies involving the HyperPath cohort. The project was supported in part by the following grants: U54LM008748 from the National Library of Medicine; UL1RR025758, Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, from the National Center for Research Resources; M01-RR02635, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, General Clinical Research Center, from the National Center for Research Resources; and National Institute of Health grants HL47651, HL59424, K12HD051959-07 (Harvard BIRCWH Scholars Program, ARS), K24 RR0186-13-01 (EWS), 5 KL2 RR025757 (BC); 12CRP11690012 (BC) from the American Heart Association and the Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) in Molecular Genetics of Hypertension P50HL055000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Diabetes and Hypertension, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    A R Saxena, B Chamarthi, G H Williams & E W Seely

  2. Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Genetics Research, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    P N Hopkins

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  1. A R Saxena
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  4. P N Hopkins
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Correspondence to A R Saxena.

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Saxena, A., Chamarthi, B., Williams, G. et al. Predictors of plasma and urinary catecholamine levels in normotensive and hypertensive men and women. J Hum Hypertens 28, 292–297 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2013.112

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