CD34 and Hypertension: Since platelets constitute a contributing factor to endothelial repair (vascular maintenance) in association with CD34-positive cells [11, 12, 17], and hypertension can be assumed to mask the beneficial effect of circulating CD34-positive cells on endothelial repair [14, 15], we performed a hypertension status stratified analysis to evaluate the production and consumptive reduction of circulating CD34-positive cells.