Hypertension News

Editor's Note: The authors offer more details about improving medication adherence in an interview with NN&I. 

Editor's note: This article was originally published May 29 on Home Dialysis Central's KidneyViews blog.

Researchers have identified proteins that plays an important role in the kidney scarring caused by chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes. They said they hope the discovery can lead to a new strategy for preventing kidney failure. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

A year-long study of more than 300 patients with hyperkalemia, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease found that the investigational drug Patiromer, made by Relypsa, Inc. can reduce elevated blood-potassium levels.

A newly developed assay may help investigators identify novel drug candidates to protect kidney cells and prevent or treat chronic kidney disease. The advance is described in an article, entitled "A Podocyte-Based Automated Screening Assay Identifies Protective Small Molecules," published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Women who take calcium channel blocker medications to control their blood pressure are not at increased risk of developing breast cancer due to the drug, according to a study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah. Findings from the study were presented at the 2014 American Heart Association Scientific in Chicago Researchers analyzed the records of more than 3,700 women who had no history of breast cancer, and who had long-term use of calcium channel blocker medications to control their blood pressure. Researchers found only a minimal increase in risk in one study and a 50% reduced risk in a second, leading them to recommend the continued use of these important medications to help prevent heart attack and stroke.

With proper monitoring, kidney donation may be safe for individuals with high blood pressure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The study found that while hypertension can have negative effects on the kidneys, older adults with the condition appear to have good kidney health following donation. Both maintained excellent blood pressure control and had similarly robust compensatory kidney responses. 

A new analysis of an important trial of the blood pressure-lowering procedure, renal denervation, shows that the main results may have been affected by a number of confounding factors that partially explain the unexpected blood pressure responses in patients.

PHILADELPHIA––New data presented here during Kidney Week found patients undergoing dialysis experienced abnormal heart rhythms at clinically significant rates immediately before, during, and after their dialysis sessions.

A drug that’s currently available for treating a certain type of hypertension may help patients with chronic renovascular disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).