High blood pressure (also called hypertension) may cause chronic kidney disease. The reverse is also true: chronic kidney disease frequently causes high blood pressure.
High blood pressure damages the small blood vessels that deliver blood to the kidneys’ filters. Long-standing, untreated high blood pressure, or very severe high blood pressure, will reduce the flow of the blood into the filters and may lead to chronic kidney disease.
The kidneys also produce a hormone that helps in the control of blood pressure. When the kidneys are damaged or fail, this hormone may increase and cause high blood pressure. In turn, this may lead to further kidney damage. It is important to control high blood pressure to try to prevent long-term kidney damage.
If you have diabetes as well as high blood pressure, you must be especially careful about good blood pressure control. For people with kidney disease, good blood pressure control is one of the most effective ways of slowing the progression of kidney disease.
Talk with your doctor or nurse about what your target blood pressure should be and when and how often you need to check it. Generally, you should keep your blood pressure below 130/80 mm Hg.
