A study on prevalence of microalbuminuria and its correlates in patients with essential hypertension

 

 

Abstract              Essential hypertension produces proteinuria and a significant reduction in renal function in 5–15% of patients. Micro-albuminuria (MA) is one of the earliest indications of kidney injury in patients with hypertension and is associated with high incidence of cardiovascular morbidity. So the present study was conducted with aim to find out the prevalence of microalbuminuria and its correlates in patients with essential hypertension. A hospital based Analytical Cross-sectional study was conducted at Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, among 100 randomly selected patients who were diagnosed with essential hypertension for a period of 6 months. The prevalence of microalbuminuria in the present study was 19%. The mean age of micro-albuminuric patients was 52.42 ± 8.78 years and in other patients was 56.74 ± 10.91yrsand no statistically significant association was found between them. The duration of hypertension was high in microalbuminuria cases 5.47 ± 2.32 years when compared to non-microalbuminuria patients 3.52 ± 1.26 yrs. Diastolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels were found to be higher in cases of microalbuminuria when compared to normal patients and a statistically significant association was found between them. Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) was present in significant number of patients with MA as compared to those without MA (55.5% vs. 15.4%, P<0.05). We recommend that early screening for microalbuminuria in patients of essential hypertension and so that early initiation of treatment might help in reducing the morbidity and mortality.

Key Word: Age, Essential hypertension, Micro-albuminuria, Left Ventricular Hypertrophy.