Trace elements: an association with cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.

Abnormalities associated with trace elements have not received much attention from clinicians in the past; however, in the past few years there has been a veritable explosion of knowledge about trace elements which are associated with abnormalities in experimental animals as well as in humans. The information explosion is rapidly reaching the stage where clinicians will be called upon more frequently to diagnose and treat trace element-related maladies.This article introduces to the clinician some pertinent relationships between several of the more common trace elements and their suspected relationship with cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.