[Epidemiology of HTN in dialysis]

Abstract

Increased cardio-vascular morbidity-mortality in dialysed patients is particularly due to an insufficiency of blood pressure control. Previous epidemiological surveys show that prevalence of dialysis hypertension is high, from 55 to 85% according to period and mean age of the studied population, despite an improvement of dialysis strategies during the last decade. Control of hypertension is not better in peritoneal dialysis than in haemodialysis. Antihypertensive drugs are administered to 3/4 of dialysed patients. Dialysis strategies which increase the number of sessions per week or the duration of each session in conventional haemodialysis improve the volume control and consequently the blood pressure. Atherosclerosis, cause or consequence of hypertension in dialysed elderly patients, more and more old, lead to adapt treatment strategies in order to prevent hypotension, which is also, a major risk factor of morbidity-mortality in dialysed patients (reverse epidemiology).