Morning Blood Pressure Surge as a Predictor of Development of Chronic Kidney Disease

Blood pressure (BP) usually increases upon awakening--a physiological mechanism called morning BP surge (MBPS). BP values above the MBPS threshold are associated with target organ damage, including left ventricular hypertrophy and proteinuria. Despite these data, there have been no studies that have investigated the association between elevated MBPS and the development of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this study, patients with essential hypertension were included and underwent ambulatory BP measurements and MBPS. Patients were followed for a median of 3.33 years. In total, 622 patients were enrolled. The mean age of patients was 57.6±12.4 years, 54.0% were men, 16.7% had diabetes, and 10.6% had prevalent cardiovascular disease. During follow-up, 32 patients developed CKD. Higher MBPS, analyzed both as continuous and categorical variables, was associated with incident CKD in all models. Elevated MBPS is associated with kidney function deterioration and the development of CKD. Studies are needed to further examine underlying mechanisms regarding MBPS and these renal outcomes.