Kidneys And High Blood Pressure Association

Kidneys and high blood pressure association is an important consideration for medical doctors. There is an important association between your kidneys and your blood pressure regardless of whether you have hypertension or abnormally low blood pressure known medically as hypotension. Kidneys regulate your blood pressure by playing the function of removing fluids from your body. According to blood pressure definition, blood pressure is the force exerted on vessel walls as blood is flowing in the arteries. This force is measured using blood pressure numbers represented in systolic and diastolic readings measured as mmHg (millimeters of mercury). Blood pressure is influenced by the amount of blood volume flowing in the blood vessels as well as the constriction or dilation of these blood vessels. It is in this context that kidneys play a role in blood pressure regulation by removing excess fluids from the body which have the effect of increasing blood volume.

Apart from regulating blood pressure, kidneys are also vulnerable to damage brought about by high blood pressure. In fact hypertension which is chronic high blood pressure cannot be cured. What doctors do is to control high blood pressure by bringing it under effective management using different hypertension treatment therapies and high blood pressure meds. By controlling high blood pressure the main goal is to prevent end-organ damage. Untreated and unresponsive high blood pressure such as that occurring in resistant hypertension will eventually lead to heart, brain, eyes, liver and kidney damage. These organs can easily be severely damaged by untreated high blood pressure. The association between kidneys and high blood pressure is s important doctors particularly check for kidney damage in patients with high blood pressure alongside damage to other important organs. Kidney damage is checked by testing a patient's urine for certain levels of protein. When your kidneys are damaged by high blood pressure it leads to chronic kidney damage (CKD) which can be resolved via kidney transplantation or constant dialysis two or three times per week.

The association between kidneys and high blood pressure also means damaged kidneys in a normal person with no history of high blood pressure may lead to high blood in that individual. This is known as secondary hypertension because its causes are known. Up to 95 percent of hypertension sufferers suffer from a class of high blood pressure called primary hypertension whose causes are not known. A person with kidney problems resulting in elevated blood pressure may have their blood pressure return to ideal blood pressure levels by simply getting their condition successfully treated. In the same way as high blood pressure, kidney disease hardly shows any symptoms in its early stages. It remains asymptomatic in the same was as high blood pressure. It is therefore possible for individuals to have chronic kidney disease and not know it. Should your blood pressure which normally is in the normal blood pressure range go up suddenly and remain sustained for a long period your doctor may consider testing for kidney damage. This may turn out a positive kidney damage. Doctors particularly measure your glomerular filtration rate (GFR) which is an indication of how efficiently your kidneys are filtering off waste from your body. A value of less than 60 millimeters per minute (mL/min) may point to some form of kidney damage.

The Kidneys and high blood pressure link will require that patients of high blood pressure take pharmacological drugs and introduce lifestyle changes to avoid kidney damage and damage to other organs apart from the kidneys themselves. When doctors introduce lifestyle changes and drug treatment they work around a treatment goal recommended by hypertension guidelines. To avoid kidney damage blood pressure must be reduced to 130/80mmHg as soon as is possible. This is essentially achieved through eating foods that lower blood pressure found in particular hypertension diets and menus. Patients will also need to engage in healthy exercise which is aerobic in nature as well as loose weight. Stopping smoking and quitting drinking are also important considerations that may not be waivers for individuals with high blood pressure. In terms of who is at risk of kidneys disease, studies looking into the association between kidneys and high blood pressure have invariably point to a high risk involving individuals of African American background. African Americans with hypertension have a six fold chance of developing kidney disease compared to Caucasians. Individuals already suffering from diabetes and those that develop diabetes later after having hypertension also have a greater risk of kidney failure. There is a strong link between diabetes and high blood pressure.

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