Your kidneys and blood pressure are more closely related than you might think. When your kidneys function properly, they help keep your blood pressure in the healthy range. That's because high blood pressure can be caused not only by plaque build-up (causing a narrowing of your blood vessels), but also by too much fluid in your blood vessels.
High blood pressure (also called hypertension) makes your heart work harder and puts stress on your blood vessels. Over time, the blood vessels throughout your body - including those in your kidneys - can be damaged. Each year, high blood pressure causes more than 15,000 new cases of kidney failure, making high blood pressure one of the leading causes of end-stage renal diseases.
Unnoticed Diseases
Both hypertension and kidney damage can go unnoticed because they don't have symptoms in the early stages. Having your blood pressure measured can identify hypertension, which might indicate a kidney problem.
Your kidneys filter wastes and extra fluid from your blood but when the blood vessels in your kidneys become damaged, your kidneys might stop doing their job well. Then, the extra fluid has nowhere to go and stays in your blood vessels, raising the pressure.
To identify kidney damage, your health care team can order blood tests to measure whether your kidneys are removing wastes sufficiently. They might order tests for serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN).
Your health providers might also check for protein in your urine (called proteinuria). This could indicate heart disease and damaged blood vessels.
Who is Most at Risk
Anyone is at risk of developing kidney failure from high blood pressure, but especially African Americans and Native Americans (including Alaska natives). African Americans ages 25 to 44 are 20 times more likely than Caucasians in the same age group to develop hypertension-related kidney failure.
Another risk factor of kidney failure is diabetes. If you have diabetes and another risk factor, such as race, you should have early management of high blood pressure.
What You Can Do
Typically, your blood pressure is considered normal if it stays below 130/85. However, people with kidney disease should keep their blood pressure well below that. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recommends you keep your blood pressure below 125/75 when protein in your urine exceeds one gram per 24 hours.
Many people can control high blood pressure with lifestyle
changes. Your doctor might also prescribe one or more medicines to
control your high blood pressure. |
