Does essential hypertension cause end-stage renal disease?
Weisstuch JM; Dworkin LD 1992 May;36:S33-7, Kidney international. Supplement The number of patients developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) as a consequence of hypertension is increasing and accounts for 25% of new cases of ESRD in the United States. However, the diagnosis of hypertensive ESRD is one of exclusion and no pathologic data corroborate this classification. Undoubtedly, these patients suffer from a variety of diseases, including accelerated hypertension and atherosclerotic disease of the large arteries. Also included are patients with an undiagnosed primary renal disease. The prevalence of these conditions in the hypertensive population is unknown. It is also proposed that mild to moderate hypertension can lead to ESRD. In support of this view, early investigators noted that nephrosclerosis was correlated with hypertension and/or left ventricular hypertrophy. More recently, in the Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program, renal function was found to decline in some pat
