Long‐Term Antihypertensive Effects of Aliskiren, a Direct Renin Inhibitor, in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is not necessarily suppressed in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing dialysis. Of all the inhibitors of this system, the clinical efficacy of the renin inhibitor, aliskiren, has not been well demonstrated in dialysis patients. We evaluated the antihypertensive effect of aliskiren, administered as a single daily dose of 150 mg for 24 weeks, in 23 chronic hemodialysis patients (age 65 ± 12 years, 15 men and eight women) with blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg, and assessed the factors relating to blood pressure reduction. At 4 weeks, the average systolic blood pressure before the dialysis session was insignificantly reduced from 163 ± 10 mm Hg to 160 ± 15 mm Hg, while it was significantly lowered at 12 (154 ± 13 mm Hg) and 24 weeks (155 ± 10 mm Hg), although the pulse rate was not significantly altered. Serum K increased at 24 weeks from 4.9 ± 0.6 mEq/L to 5.2 ± 0.8 mEq/L. Only 10 out of 23 patients showed systolic blood pressure reduction by ≥10 mm Hg. Naturally, plasma renin immunoreactivity increased, while plasma renin activity, along with angiotensin II and aldosterone levels decreased. Basal levels of the components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system were not significantly different in patients showing systolic blood pressure reduction by ≥10 mm Hg (n = 10) vs. those with <10 mm Hg changes (n = 13). The reduction in systolic blood pressure in all 23 patients taken as a whole correlated with changes in plasma renin activity (r = -0.432, P < 0.05) and angiotensin II (r = 0.467, P < 0.05). In chronic hemodialysis patients, aliskiren modestly lowers blood pressure over the long term, although the antihypertensive effect seems dependent on the changes, but not on the basal levels of plasma renin activity and angiotensin II.