Prevalence of hypertension in a hemodialysis population

Objective To know the accurate information on prevalence and status of blood pressure (BP) control in hemodialysis patients. Methods The pre/post mid week dialysis BP readings of 114 patients (74 males, 40 females. the average age 49.2±11.6 years) were evaluated. Hypertension was defined as BP>150/90mm Hg. Hypertension was further characterized according to whether the patients had normal or elevated pre dialysis systolic, pre dialysis diastolic, post dialysis systolic or post dialysis diastolic BP reading on 6 sequential dialysis recordings. And the systolic and diastolic pressure was separately graded from 0 to3 and a number designed as hypertension sensitivity index (HSI) was assigned to each patient. Results Of the 114 patients,97(85.1%)were hypertenisve,87(76.3%) had persistent elevation of BP despite being on one or more antihypertensive medication.The mean HSI for this population was 3.7±2.2.Most patients(81.9%) were on calcium channel blockers,29.1% being on Angiotension converting enzyme inhibitors(ACEI) and 29.2% on α blockers.There was correlation between pre dialysis systolic,pre dialysis diastolic BP and the post dialysis body weight change rate with dry weight.Conclusion Hypertension was a frequent finding in our hemodialysis population.Most of this hypertension was pre dialysis systolic.There was significant correlation between pre dialysis BP and post dialysis body weight change rate with dry weight.