Short Editorial: Clinical Characteristics of Resistant vs. Refractory Hypertension in a Population of Hypertensive Afro-descendants

Differences in the clinical behavior of arterial hypertension (AH) in diverse ethnic groups have long been the object of intense scientific investigation. The American Heart Association statistics for 2015 found that Afro-descendants have the highest prevalence of hypertension worldwide. In black, non-Hispanic men and women, the prevalence was 44.9% and 46.1%, respectively. Although such figures are not universal for all Afro-descendant populations, there are groups in which blood pressure levels are much higher, such as South-African blacks, in whom systolic blood pressure is 9.7 mmHg higher when compared to African-Americans. ^,

Target-organ lesions and complications are more prevalent in Afro-descendants, when compared to Caucasians or Hispanics for the same pressure levels, in addition to the fact that they are more resistant to treatment. ^,

[…]