Associations of proteinuria and the estimated glomerular filtration rate with incident hypertension in young to middle-aged Japanese males

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the independent associations of proteinuria and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with incident hypertension.MethodsWe investigated 29,181 Japanese males 18–59years old without hypertension in 2000 and examined whether proteinuria and the eGFR predicted incident hypertension independently over 10years. Incident hypertension was defined as a newly detected blood pressure of ≥140/90mmHg and/or the initiation of antihypertensive drugs. Proteinuria and the eGFR were categorized as dipstick negative (reference), trace or ≥1+ and ≥60 (reference), 50–59.9 or <50ml/min/1.73m2, respectively. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of incident hypertension.ResultsAt baseline, 236 (0.8%) and 477 (1.6%) participants had trace and ≥1+ dipstick proteinuria, while 1416 (4.9%) and 129 (0.4%) participants had an eGFR of 50–59.9 and <50ml/min/1.73m2, respectively. The adjusted HRs were significant for proteinuria ≥1+ (HRs 1.20, 95% CI: 1.06–1.35) and an eGFR of <50ml/min/1.73m2 (1.29, 1.03–1.61). When two non-referent categories were combined (dipstick≥trace vs. negative and eGFR