Does cadmium contribute to the development of renal parenchymal hypertension?

In our study we investigated 36 out-patients with renal disease, 22 of whom were hypertensive. In all patients proteinuria was present (4.30 +/- 5.05 g protein/day) and kidney diseases were verified by renal biopsy. Blood cadmium in non-smokers was significantly (p less than 0.05) lower than in smokers. We found a positive correlation between cadmium-concentration of blood and urine (p less than 0.01, R = 0.44) and between cadmium-concentration of blood and blood uric acid (p less than 0.01, R = 0.44). Proteinuria was weakly correlated with cadmium concentration of urine (p less than 0.05, R = 0.35). Patients with renal hypertension showed a significantly higher (p less than 0.05) urine cadmium excretion per day (1.60 +/- 1.12 micrograms/day) compared to normotensives with a disease of the kidney (1.14 +/- 1.47 micrograms/day). Our results indicate that cadmium may be involved in the development of hypertension in patients with renal disease.