[Hypertension in dialysis patients. Italian Guidelines]

There are 44,000 dialysis patients in Italy and it is estimated that about 50% of them are hypertensive. In dialysis patients arterial blood pressure (BP) is highly variable, as it gradually increases in the interdialytic interval and decreases more or less rapidly during dialysis. Sodium retention and volume expansion play a major role in hypertension in these patients; and therefore, this alteration constitutes a main treatment target in this patient population. The great majority of patients also require antihypertensive drugs. The pharmacokinetics of these drugs are often modified by renal failure and peculiar dose adjustments must be adopted in this setting.