The Gubbio data. Epidemiology and pathophysiology. Gubbio Study Research Group.

The relation between the maximal velocity of red blood cell sodium-lithium countertransport and blood pressure/hypertension has been studied in 2,748 men and women aged 25-74 years who participated in the 1983-85 baseline examination of the Gubbio Population Study, an epidemiologic investigation performed in a hill town of north central Italy. Men had a higher sodium-lithium countertransport velocity than women at all ages, and, in both sexes, a higher velocity was observed at successive ages. Hypertensives of both sexes had a higher sodium-lithium countertransport velocity than normotensive individuals, the difference remaining significant after control for age, body mass index and plasma uric acid concentration. Individuals with high sodium-lithium countertransport velocity had significantly greater prevalence of hypertension in both sexes. The data show the existence of a cross-sectional association between sodium-lithium countertransport velocity and hypertension in general population. Prospective study of the Gubbio population is now in progress to investigate the relation between baseline sodium-lithium countertransport velocity, its change over the years and the incidence of hypertension.