Blood pressure control poor with kidney disease

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research indicates that despite being informed about high blood pressure and its treatment, few patients with kidney disease are able to control their blood pressure.

"There are two potential reasons for these findings: insufficient therapy and resistant (high blood pressure) despite optimal medical therapy," Dr. Uptal Patel from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters Health. Further "increases in awareness or treatment of hypertension among those with kidney disease" will probably not enhance control.

Patel reported the study findings today at the American Heart Association's 62nd Annual Fall Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research in Atlanta.

In a large group of US adults who participated in a national survey, the rate of high blood pressure, and awareness and treatment for high blood pressure, was higher among individuals with lower levels of kidney function.

Participants with moderate or severe kidney disease were more likely to be aware of their high blood pressure and treated for it, compared with those with little or no kidney disease.

"However, despite better awareness and treatment of high blood pressure in those with moderate to severe decreases in kidney function, blood pressure control rates remained paradoxically low," Patel said.

As mentioned, Patel said these findings "may reflect either insufficient therapy or resistant (high blood pressure) at lower levels of kidney function, particularly among the elderly and non-Hispanic blacks who are at increased risk of progressive kidney disease. In general, the control of blood pressure is poor for the patients in all subgroups, "suggesting greater efforts are needed universally."