Albuminuria of hypertensive patients

Renal dysfunction as a consequence of malignant hypertension has been recognized for decades in patients with essential hypertension. It has been shown only recently, however, that albuminuria (including underlying albuminuria not detectable by conventional tests, i.e. microalbuminuria) has emerged as a frequent sequela of essential hypertension. Furthermore, renal dysfunction of the elderly as a result of ischemic nephropathy, in the absence of malignant hypertension, has turned out to be an important long-term outcome in the patient with essential hypertension. The presence of albuminuria is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events. Albuminuria is associated with more severe hypertension and with evidence of more advanced target organ damage (e.g. LVH). It is more prevalent in the elderly. It is unknown whether the predictive value of albuminuria reflects its association with more severe hypertension and end-organ damage, or whether albuminuria serves as an indicator of capillary leakiness which causes detectable abnormalities in the renal microcirculation but reflects more generalized endothelial barrier dysfunction predisposing to accelerated atherogenesis.