PREVALENCE OF APPARENT-TREATMENT RESISTANT HYPERTENSION IN PERITONEAL DIALYSIS PATIENTS ASSESSED WITH THE USE OF 24-HOUR AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of apparent-treatment resistant hypertension (aTRH) among patients with predialysis chronic kidney disease is 2–3 times higher than in the general population. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of aTRH in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). Design and method: A total of 140 ESKD patients treated with PD in 4 centers of Northern Greece underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with the oscillometric device Mobil-O-Graph (IEM, Stolberg, Germany). aTRH was defined as 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) equal or higher than 130/80 mmHg, despite the use of at least 3 antihypertensive medications of different categories or controlled hypertension in patients treated with at least 4 antihypertensives. Loop diuretics that are commonly prescribed in PD patients for long-term preservation of residual kidney function are generally ineffective in lowering BP and were not considered as a separate antihypertensive drug category in our analysis. To explore the association of volume overload with the severity of hypertension, the body composition of study participants was analyzed via bioimpendence spectroscopy (BCM, Fresenius Medical Care, Germany). Results: Of the 140 PD patients enrolled in the study, 42 (30%) had aTRH, 45 (32.1%) had uncontrolled hypertension under treatment with < 3 BP-lowering medications and the remaining 53 patients (37.9%) were either normotensives or had controlled hypertension with < 3 antihypertensives. The prevalence of aTRH among drug-treated hypertensives was 32.5%. Overhydration > 2.5L with the use of bioimpendence spectroscopy was detected in 38.1% of patients with aTRH, in 15.6% of patients with uncontrolled hypertension and in 18.9% of normotensives or patients with controlled hypertension (P< 0.05). Conclusions: The present study showed that aTRH affects approximately 30% of ESKD patients undergoing PD. However, the prevalence of true-resistant hypertension in this high-risk population is probably lower, since 38.1% of patients with aTRH had subclinical volume overload detected with the method of bioimpendence spectroscopy.