Hypertension plays a key role in the evolution of the syndrome of heart failure. Hypertension
has been identified as the chief precursor of left ventricular hypertrophy. Hypertensive left
ventricular hypertrophy can lead to ventricular diastolic dysfunction; it is also a risk factor for
myocardial infarction, which is a principal cause of left ventricular systolic dysfunction.
Asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction, whether systolic or diastolic, culminates in
clinically overt heart failure when a threshold is exceeded or when other precipitating factors …