Albuminuria and Glomerular Filtration in Patients with Essential Hypertension.

Background: Essential hypertension (EH) is a widespread disease. One frequent complication of EH is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), whose diagnosis is delayed due to its asymptomatic course. The purpose of this study is to determine the involvement of the kidneys in patients with EH by biomarkers for kidney damage (albuminuria) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with creatinine and cystatin C.

Methods: We observed a control group of 153 healthy volunteers and a group of 150 patients with EH. The biomarkers we tested were urinary albumin, ACR, total protein, and PCR. The GFR was calculated by the CKD-EPI formula using creatinine simultaneously and by the combined formula CKD-EPI using creatinine and cystatin C.

Results: The obtained results for the studied biomarkers in the control group are similar to the ones reported in the literature. In the group of patients with EH (at the time of study none of which had been diagnosed with CKD) we observed albuminuria A2 in 59 of the patients (39.9%) and none with albuminuria A3; increased ACR in 60 patients (40%); PCR above reference range in 42 patients (28%). GFRR was < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 in 13 patients (8.6%).

Conclusions: These results show that albuminuria A2 and ACR are sensitive, while GFR is a specific biomarker for kidney damage. For patients with EH, a timely follow-up of these biomarkers is necessary in order to decrease the progression of the kidney damage to Chronic Kidney Failure, cardiac complications, and premature mortality.