Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence, characteristics, and determinants of apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (aTRH) in an unselected large population of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) treated with hemodialysis (HD) throughout the country. METHODS: A database of 5879 patients (mean age 65.2 ± 14.2 years, 60% of males receiving hemodialysis) was obtained from the biggest provider of hemodialysis in the country. Hypertension and aTRH were defined using pre- or/and post-dialysis BP values. Patients with and without aTRH (non-aTRH) were compared. RESULTS: Using pre- and post-dialysis criteria, hypertension was diagnosed in 90.7% and 89.1% of subjects, respectively. According to pre- and post-dialysis blood pressure criteria, aTRH incidences were 40.9% and 38.4%, respectively. The hypertensive patients with aTRH versus non-aTRH were younger, had a higher rate of cardiovascular disease, lower dialysis vintage, shorter time on dialysis, higher eKt/V, higher ultrafiltration, higher pre- and post-dialysis BP and HR, and higher use of antihypertensive drugs. Factors that increase the risk of aTRH according to both pre- and post-dialysis BP criteria were age-OR 0.99 [0.98-0.99] and 0.99 [0.98-0.99], the history of CVD 1.26 [1.08-1.46] and 1.30 [1.12-1.51], and diabetes 1.26 [1.08-1.47] and 1.28 [1.09-1.49], adjusted OR with 95% CI. CONCLUSIONS: In the real-life world, as much as 40% of HD patients may have aTRH. In ESKD HD patients, aTRH seems to be multifactorial, influenced by patient-related rather than dialysis-related factors. Various definitions of aTRH preclude easy comparisons between studies.