High BP associated with increased kidney cancer risk, finds study

Researchers have found in a nationwide population-based study that high blood pressure was associated with a considerable kidney cancer risk.The findings of the study have been published in the journal Hypertension.

The incidence of kidney cancer has increased for all age groups between 1973 and 2008 according to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology.Also hypertension is estimated to affect up to 40% of adults worldwide with the prevalence continuously increasing.

But there is a lack of data at present concerning systolic or diastolic blood pressure to assess the link between blood pressure and kidney cancer.

The researchers conducted a Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study to assess relationship

between kidney cancer and high blood pressure.

They utilized nationally representative data from the Korean National Health Insurance System and identified 9,746,445 participants without kidney cancer from whom data on cancer incidence was gathered.

The participants were grouped, based on blood pressure, as normal (< 120/80 mm Hg), elevated (120–129/<80 mm Hg), and hypertensive (≥ 130/80 mm Hg) and with or without antihypertensive medication, by applying the 2017 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association blood pressure guidelines.

A follow-up of 8 years revealed kidney cancer in 11,083 participants. The attributable risk associated with hypertension was 11.7 (95% CI, 11.1–12.3) cases of kidney cancer per 100 000 person-years of follow-up, with 56.0% (95% CI, 53.1–58.8) of these kidney cancer cases among individuals with hypertension.

The findings revealed an increased risk of kidney cancer in relation to high systolic or diastolic blood pressure vs normal blood pressure.

It was found that participants with hypertension using medication had a higher cancer risk compared to those not using medication and those with elevated blood pressure. Even after adjusting for antihypertensive medication use kidney cancer risk was significantly higher with higher systolic or diastolic blood pressure, in a dose-dependent manner.

For further reference log on to:https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.14820