Over nearly 12 years, Roberto Pontremoli, MD, PhD (University of Genoa, in Italy) and his colleagues followed the health of 917 hypertensive, non-diabetic patients enrolled in the MAGIC (Microalbuminuria: A Genoa Investigation on Complications) study between 1993 and 1997. The investigators found that patients with microalbuminuria at the start of the study were 7.6-times as likely to develop chronic kidney disease and 2.1-times as likely to develop cardiovascular complications (such as heart disease or stroke) compared with individuals without microalbuminuria. Study participants with microalbuminuria also had a 3.2-fold increased risk of developing both kidney and cardiovascular conditions. Even after the researchers considered and adjusted for various patient characteristics that might contribute to health differences (age, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol level, and kidney function), individuals with microalbuminuria at the start of the study still had a 2.6-fold increased risk of developing both kidney and cardiovascular problems compared with those without microalbuminuria.

These results demonstrate that microalbuminuria has a profound effect on the health of non-diabetic patients with hypertension. "Our findings emphasize the usefulness of a more widespread evaluation of microalbuminuria in an effort to guide the management of hypertension," said Dr. Pontremoli. Additional research is needed to determine whether specific treatments that are known to improve the health of diabetic patients with microalbuminuria can also help non-diabetic patients.

The article, entitled "Microalbuminuria Is a Predictor of Chronic Renal Insufficiency in Patients without Diabetes and with Hypertension: The MAGIC Study," will appear online at cjasn.asnjournals on April 29, 2010, doi 10.2215/CJN.07271009.

SOURCE The American Society of Nephrology (ASN)