Management of High Blood Pressure to Slow down Progression of Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetes is a chronic systemic metabolic disorder. In prolonging disease course, persistent high blood sugar from Diabetes can damage blood vessels in multiple organs, including the kidneys. Kidney disease caused by Diabetes is known as Diabetic Nephropathy. High blood pressure in people with Diabetics is often a sign for worsened illness condition. The management of hypertension is of great significance in slowing down deterioration of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetes is clinically the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease in the world. Poorly controlled or long-term of Diabetes can thicken glomerular basilar membrane and damage filtrating functions on glomerular cells. The impaired glomerular cells no longer effectively block proteins from running out of the body, thus causing an abnormal loss of proteins from urine. The earliest sign of Diabetic Nephropathy is microalbuminuria. In later course, glomerular cell damage is worsened to cause clinical presence of proteinuria, which means the disease has entered to stage 4 of Diabetic Nephropathy. Diabetic Nephropathy is a fast developing type kidney disease. According to American Joslin clinical trials, an average 50-75% of diabetics develop into end-stage renal failure after occurrence of clinical proteinuria.

Proper treatment and management of high blood pressure is one of the most important measures to slow down worsening of kidney damage. High blood pressure aggravates leakage of proteins from urine and promotes aggravation of kidney damage. In comparison, effective anti-hypertensive treatment can remit proteinuria and slow down decline of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). In daily care nursing, it is suggested to monitor blood pressure in different times of the day so as to know the fluctuation regularity of blood pressure and manage blood pressure effectively. Life-style changes, dietary control and regular exercise will assist anti-hypertensive medicine treatment to achieve targeted BP range. Usually, if no presence of proteinuria, your blood pressure can be managed within 130/80mmHg. A targeted BP range would be 125/75mmHg for people with Diabetes, which will maximally slow down damage to the kidneys and also reduce incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases and other vital complications.

One thing to remember, it will be better to lower blood pressure slowly, instead of reducing blood pressure rapidly. Fluctuating blood pressure or high blood pressure may also worsen the illness condition. Target and stable blood sugar treatment also matters. The patients also need to reduce their blood lipids, which will help Diabetics to prevent onset of heart disease.