Hypertension News

A diet high in fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts, moderate in low-fat dairy products, and low in animal proteins, refined grains and sweets may reduce risk for developing kidney stones, according to a study published in the March issue of the National Kidney Foundation's American Journal of Kidney Diseases. March is National Kidney Month and the National Kidney Foundation encourages people to learn about the kidneys and associated conditions, including kidney stones.

Medication to treat high blood pressure in older patients appears to be associated with an increased risk for serious injury from falling such as a hip fracture or head injury, especially in older patients who have been injured in previous falls, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Doctors may need to treat high blood pressure in women earlier and more aggressively than they do in men, according to scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. In a new study, published in the December edition of Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease, the researchers found significant differences in the mechanisms that cause high blood pressure in women as compared to men.

Patients with stable hypertension and the most advanced stage of chronic kidney disease before initiating dialysis appeared to have a lower risk for long-term dialysis or death if they were treated with the antihypertensive drugs known as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

In a study of African-American men, researchers from the National Institutes of Health found that boys who grew up in two-parent homes were less likely to have high blood pressure as adults compared to those raised by a single parent. Reported in the Dec. 12, 2013, issue of the journal Hypertension, this is the first study of an African-American population to document an association between childhood family living arrangements and blood pressure.

A commonly used stenting procedure to treat plaque build-up in the renal artery appears to offer no significant improvement when added to medication-based therapy, according to results from a National Institutes of Health-funded study. The narrowing and hardening of one or both renal arteries, known as renal artery stenosis, occurs in 1 to 5% of people who have hypertension. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association 2013 Scientific Sessions in Dallas and appeared concurrently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a packed room at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week, the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study group presented sobering, but expected, data on 140 U.S. dialysis facilities and more than 5,000 dialysis patients.

Among dialysis patients with hypertension and thickened heart muscles, certain antihypertensive medications are better than others for preventing cardiovascular disease and hospitalizations, according to an abstract, "Hypertension in Hemodialysis Patients Treated with Atenolol or Lisinopril (HDPAL): A Randomized Controlled Trial" (Abstract 5826), presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney week 2013. A team led by Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MBBS, FASN, from the VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, conducted a clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of an ACE inhibitor–based antihypertensive treatment compared with a β-blocker-based antihypertensive treatment. Two hundred patients on hemodialysis who had hypertension and thickened heart muscles were randomized to the ACE inhibitor lisinopril or the β-blocker atenolol, each administered three times weekly after dialysis.

Preeclampsia during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of developing kidney failure, according to a study, “Preeclampsia and End-Stage Renal Disease: A United States Renal Data System Linkage Study” (Abstract 1671), presented at ASN Kidney Week 2013. Recent data from registry-based studies suggest that preeclampsia—a condition in pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, sometimes with fluid retention and protein excretion in the urine—is a risk factor for developing kidney failure later in life, but the magnitude of this link and the contributions of individuals’ other medical conditions remain unknown. To investigate the issue, researchers led by Andrea Kattah, MD from the Mayo Clinic studied 8,362 residents of Olmsted County, Minn. who gave birth between 1976 and 1982. Kidney failure cases were identified by linkage with the United States Renal Data System and each case was matched to two controls.

The American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN) has expressed concern over the potential impact of the recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Recommendation Statement regarding screening for primary hypertension in children and adolescents published online Oct. 8 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The task force concluded that there was not enough evidence to properly weigh the benefits versus the risks of screening for primary hypertension in asymptomatic children and adolescents. The ASPN said it is concerned the task force's statement may discourage primary care physicians from measuring blood pressure in children and teens as a routine part of their clinical practice.