Click to learn more about High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease
Blood pressure is the force of your blood against the walls of your blood vessels as your heart pumps blood around your body. If the force becomes too high, you are said to have high blood pressure or hypertension.
How are high blood pressure and kidney disease related? High blood pressure is a leading cause of CKD. Over time, high blood pressure can damage blood vessels throughout your body. This can reduce the blood supply to important organs like the kidneys. High blood pressure also damages the tiny filtering units in your kidneys. As a result, the kidneys may stop removing wastes and extra fluid from your blood. The extra fluid in the blood vessels may build up and raise blood pressure even more.
High blood pressure can also be a complication of CKD. Your kidneys play a key role in keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range. Diseased kidneys are less able to help regulate blood pressure increases.
If you have CKD, high blood pressure makes it more likely that your kidney disease will get worse and you will have heart problems. Following your treatment plan and keeping your blood pressure controlled can help keep your kidney disease from getting worse and prevent heart disease.
—Source: The National Kidney Foundation
