Peter Ponťuch
Arterial hypertension occurs in 50-75 % patients with chronic kidney disease and is an important risk factor for progression of cardiovascular and kidney diseases. The new K/DOQI guidelines summarize the results of large trials on the treatment of hypertension, cardiovascular and kidney diseases. The target blood pressure in nondiabetic and diabetic kidney diseases should be <130/80 mmHg. Hypertensive, and even normotensive patients with microalbuminuria or mild proteinuria should be treated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. Patients with chronic kidney diseases are at high cardiovascular risk, which doubles with each increment of systolic blood pressure of 20 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure of 10 mmHg above blood pressure of 115/75 mmHg. Long-term efficient antihypertensive therapy has a beneficial effect to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or slow the progression of kidney disease.