The relationship between kidney and hypertension: a review

Abstract

For several decades clinicians and researchers have come to recognize the crucial role played by the kidney in the control of blood pressure. Richard Bright in the past had noted that patients with chronic kidney disease often showed evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy and arteriosclerosis. Fredrick Mohamed and Sir William Gull later demonstrated that elevation of blood pressure might occur even in patients with no evidence of kidney disease. There are now hypotheses to support the fact that even primary hypertension has its origin in the kidney. The consequence of hypertension of the kidney is chronic renal failure; Prevalence rates of CRF range from 25 -100 per 100,000 populations and the incidence continues to grow increasingly at a rate of about 8-10% per year thereby posing a major public health problem especially in the developing countries. Management of chronic renal diseases is tedious and very costly. The consequence of the association between kidney and hypertension on the patient, the family, the national economy of a country and the society at large is considerable, hence the need to evolve preventive strategies.