A high prevalence of hypertension inpatients presenting with mitochondrial diseases

Introduction The prevalence of arterial hypertension in mitochondrial diseases remains unknown. Mitochondrial component is suspected in the genetics of hypertension in the general population. Materials and methods Between January 2000 and May 2014, we retrospectively included patients with genetically proven mitochondrial diseases. We recorded clinical, genetic and cardiac exploration data, including the measure of arterial pressure. Results We included 260 patients in the study (mean age = 44, women = 158). The prevalence of hypertension was 41.5%. The prevalence of hypertension by sex and age was higher than that observed in the general population for all groups. The prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher inpatients with MELAS mutations (66%) and MERRFs mutations (61%). Inpatients with MELAS mutation, the presence of hypertension was significantly associated with age and mutation rate in the blood ( OR  = 1.12; P  = 0.02) in multivariate analysis. Conclusion The prevalence of hypertension was more important inpatients having a mitochondrial disease. The increased risk was more important in patient with MELAS or MERRF and depended on the rate of heteroplasmy.