Achieving control of resistant hypertension: Not just the number of blood pressure medications

Table 1 Causes of secondary hypertension and initial screening tests¹

Hyperaldosteronism	Serum renin-aldosterone ratio
Renal parenchymal disease	Serum creatinine
Obstructive sleep apnea	Polysomnography
Pheochromocytoma	Serum metanephrine and 24-h urine catecholamines
Renal artery stenosis	Renal artery duplex
Coarctation of the aorta	CT angiogram
Cushing’s disease	24-h free urinary cortisol and late-night salivary cortiso1
Thyroid disease	TSH and freeT4
Acromegaly	Serum growth hormone

¹Adapted from Carey et al[1], Charles et al[29], and Rimoldi et al[30].

Table 2 Medication and drugs known to cause hypertension[29,33,34]

NSAIDs

Estrogens/Progestins

Anabolic Steroids

Corticosteroids

COX-2 Inhibitors

SSRI/SNRI

Tricyclic antidepressants

Lithium

Buspirone

Carbamazepine

Calcineurin inhibitors

Pseudoephedrine

Amphetamine derivatives

1Chemotherapy agents

Caffeine

Methamphetamines

Cocaine

Ginseng, St John’s Wort, Ephedra, Yohimbine

Alcohol

¹Paclitaxel, alkylating agents, sorefenib, vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors, etc. NSAID_S: Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs.