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Interrelations between age and plasma renin, aldosterone and cortisol, urinary catecholamines, and the body sodium/volume state in normal man

Beziehungen zwischen Alter und Plasma-Renin,-Aldosteron und -Cortisol, Urin-Katecholaminen und Körper-Natrium-Volumen-Status beim normalen Menschen

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Zusammenfassung

Untersuchungen bei 28 jungen (19–29 Jahre), 16 mittel-alten (32–58 Jahre) und 15 älteren (60–74 Jahre) Normalpersonen zeigten eine mit zunehmendem Alter progressive Abnahme der Plasmareninaktivität und -aldosteronkonzentration sowie eine Zunahme der Noradrenalinexkretionsrate. Mit Ausnahme der im Stehen gemessen Plasmaaldosteronspiegel waren die Korrelationen dieser Parameter mit dem Alter (r≥0,34;p<0.05) sowie die Unterschiede der Mittelwerte zwischen jungen und älteren Personen (p<0,02) signifikant. Die Plasmacortisolkonzentration blieb beim Aufstehen bei jungen und mittel-alten Personen im Mittel unverändert (−10 und −8%), stieg jedoch bei älteren Menschen um 50% an (p<0,02). Der Blutdruck korrelierte (p<0,05) bei Analyse der gesamten Studienpopulation mit dem Alter (r=0,35) und der Noradrenalinexkretionsrate (r=0,34), bei den älteren Personen fand sich auch eine signifikante Beziehung zum Blutvolumen (r=0,68). Austauschbares Körpernatrium, Plasma- und Blutvolumina und Adrenalinexkretionsrate zeigten keine signifikanten altersbezogenen Variationen. Plasmarenin- und -aldosteronspiegel korrelierten weder mit diesen letzteren Parametern noch mit dem Blutdruck. Es wird gefolgert, daß der Einfluß des Alters auf Plasmarenin- und -aldosteronwerte, das freie periphere Noradrenalin und die Stimulierbarkeit von Plasmacortisol durch Orthostase in Betracht gezogen werden sollte, wenn immer diese Faktoren bei Patienten mit arterieller Hypertonie oder anderen klinischen Störungen interpretiert werden müssen. Diese Resultate sind außerdem mit der Möglichkeit vereinbar, daß die altersbezogene Zunahme des Liegendblutdrucks beim normalen Menschen zumindest teilweise auf dem parallelen Anstieg des freien peripheren Noradrenalins beruhen könnte.

Summary

Interrelations between age and plasma renin, aldosterone and cortisol levels, urinary catecholamines, plasma and blood volumes, exchangeable body sodium and blood pressure were studied in 28 young (19 to 29 years), 16 middle-aged (32 to 58 years) and 15 elderly (60 to 74 years) healthy subjects. Supine and upright plasma renin and supine aldosterone levels decreased while urinary noradrenaline excretion rate increased progressively with aging (r≥0.34;p<0.05), with significant differences in mean values between young and elderly subjects (p<0.02). There was also an age-related decrease in upright plasma aldosterone concentration, although this was not statistically significant. Furthermore, mean plasma cortisol concentrations increased in response to upright posture in elderly (+50%;p<0.02), but not in young (−10%) or middle-aged (−8%) subjects. Blood pressure correlated with age (r=0.35;p<0.05) or noradrenaline excretion rate (r=0.34) in the entire study population and with blood volume in the elderly (r=0.68), but not in the young or middle-aged study groups. There were no significant age-related differences in the body sodium/volume state, basal plasma cortisol levels or urinary adrenaline excretion rate, and plasma renin or aldosterone levels did not correlate with these parameters or with blood pressure. It is concluded that the influence of age on plasma renin or aldosterone levels, plasma cortisol responsiveness to upright posture, and urinary noradrenaline excretion should be taken into consideration, whenever these factors have to be interpreted in patients with arterial hypertension or other clinical disorders. Furthermore, these data are consistent with the possibility that in normal man increases in supine blood pressure with aging may be related at least partly to concomitant changes in free peripheral noradrenaline.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Medicine, Universities of Bern and Zurich, Switzerland

    P. Weidmann, R. de Chatel, Annamarie Schiffmann, Elfriede Bachmann, C. Beretta-Piccoli, F. C. Reubi, W. H. Ziegler & W. Vetter

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  1. P. Weidmann
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  2. R. de Chatel
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  3. Annamarie Schiffmann
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  4. Elfriede Bachmann
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  5. C. Beretta-Piccoli
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  6. F. C. Reubi
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  7. W. H. Ziegler
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  8. W. Vetter
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This investigation was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation

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Weidmann, P., de Chatel, R., Schiffmann, A. et al. Interrelations between age and plasma renin, aldosterone and cortisol, urinary catecholamines, and the body sodium/volume state in normal man. Klin Wochenschr 55, 725–733 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01476959

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