Hypertension and the kidney.

The purpose of this study was to confirm, using longitudinal observations in a normal population, that the rate of decline in renal function (creatinine clearance) is inversely correlated with blood pressure. The negative regression coefficients plotting individual rates of decline over time (Bcr) against mean blood pressures (MBP) were highly significant (p less than 0.001) for all subjects and subjects in category 3 (normals). Although the Bcr also decreases significantly with age and MBP increases with age suggesting this might be an age effect, a multiple regression analysis shows that both MBP and age as independent variables exert statistically significant effects on Bcr, the dependent variable.