MICROALBUMINURIA IN PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Objective: To determine the frequency of microalbuminuria in patients with essential hypertension at tertiary care hospital Patients and Methods: The patients with essential hypertension of either gender were recruited and enrolled in this six month cross sectional study after taking informed consent. The essential hypertension was diagnosed and severity of hypertension has been classified as per Joint National Committee (JNC) VII report on prevention detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure. For microalbuminuria the 24 hours urine for microalbuminuria estimation was done and 30 to 300 mg in 24-h urine was considered as microalbuminuria. The data saved on pre-designed proforma and analyzed in SPSS 16 while the mean ±SD, frequencies and percentages was calculated. Results: out of 50 essential hypertensive cases (33 males and 17 females) were explored for microalbuminuria, of which 15 were found to have normoalbuminuria and 35 cases found to have microalbuminuria. The mean duration of essential hypertension in overall population was 9.65±4.85 years. The mean duration of hypertension in microalbuminuric cases was 8.97±6.65 year as compared to normoalbuminuric (3.65±2.86 years). The mean systolic blood pressure in overall population was 160±10.96mmHg. The mean systolic blood pressure with microalbuminuria was 165.94±10.51 mm Hg as compared to normoalbuminuria (140.98±6.85 mm Hg). The mean diastolic blood pressure in overall population was 100±5.89 mmHg. The mean diastolic blood pressure with microalbuminuria was 90.97±8.95 mmHg as compared to normoalbuminuria (80.52±4.95 mm Hg). The microalbuminuria was detected in 35 (70%) patients (23 males and 12 females). Conclusion: The prevalence of microalbuminuria in essential hypertension was found to be 70% and is a risk factor for target organ damage and has positive correlation with severity and duration of hypertension. Keywords: Essential hypertension, Microalbuminuria and Proteinuria