The Chinese Early-onset Hypertension Study (CHESS)

Overview

Hypertension (HTN) is the most important cardiovascular risk factor which is responsible for 50% of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and also a substantial public health problem affecting approximately 1/4 of the adult population in industrialized societies and over 1 billion people worldwide. Chronically elevated blood pressure without well control puts people at increased risk of target organ damages, including stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease, blindness, and death. Especially, these damages are dramatically more severe in the early-onset hypertensive population.

In this study, the hypertensive individuals are consecutively recruited from multiple centers, with an early onset age (less than 40 when diagnosed). A complete clinical history (information on history of hypertension, demographic characteristics, personal and family medical history) are collected by a trained staff using a standardized questionnaire on the first day of baseline observation, and physical examination are also collected in a standard procedure. Blood samples are collected after 12-hour overnight fast and biological variables are determined. Genomic DNA is isolated from leukocytes according to a standard procedure. The individuals will receive follow-up in an ordinal system. The investigators will focus on the clinical and genetic features, genotype-phenotype correlations and influencing factors of prognosis in Chinese early-onset hypertension patients.

Conditions

Eligibility