ABSTRACT
There are conflicting reports about zinc, a trace element, in the pathogenesis of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of zinc in high blood pressure. We conducted this study on 80 patients with primary [idiopathic] hypertension and 80 normotensive people with similar age who attended to Tehran Heart Center between 2007 and 2008. We examined the effect of zinc concentration on blood pressure in both sexes in four age groups [41-50, 51-60, 61-70 and 71-80 years old]. We measured plasma zinc concentration by atomic absorption. The mean plasma zinc concentrations were 0.456 +/- 0.04 microg/ml and 0.551 +/- 0.055 microg/ml in patients with hypertension and in normotensive people, respectively, [P