Circadian blood pressure profile in patients with chronic kidney disease stage 1–3

Abstract

Background The population of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is prone to high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Aberrant circadian pattern of blood pressure is associated with increase cardiovascular risk. The study investigated circadian blood pressure profile in patients with early stages of CKD.

Material and methods The study included 90 patients with CKD stage 1–3, aged 34–79 years and 30 healthy volunteers as control group. All patients underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Patient was classified as “dipper” if relative decreases in SBP and DBP at night was at least 10%. If the drop the SBP or DBP was less than 10% patient was classified as “non-dipper”.

Results Hypertension was present in 78.9% of patients with CKD stage 1–3. “Non-dipper” profile was found in 59 (66%) of the surveyed patients with CKD, namely in 16 (53%) in CKD stage 1, 23 (70%) in CKD stage 2, and 20 (74%) in CKD stage 3. “Non-dipper” profile was observed in 9 (30%) of control patients. In the whole study population (n = 120) significant positive correlation was found between % drop in SBP and eGFR (r = 0.25; p < 0.01). There was no significant correlation between % drop in SBP and eGFR (r = 0.12; p = 0.26) in 90 CKD patients. There was statistically significant negative correlation between % drop in SBP and age (r = –0.25; p < 0.05) and BMI (r = –0.24; p < 0.05).

Conclusions “Non-dipper” profile is a common finding among patients with early stages of CKD and may be associated with a higher cardiovascular risk. ABPM should be a standard procedure in patients with CKD, even in early stages of the disease.