High Blood Pressure May Harm Kidney Function Silently, Study Finds

New Delhi: A new study led by researchers from the Medical University of Vienna has revealed that hypertension, or high blood pressure, may silently impair kidney function long before any clinical symptoms emerge. The findings, published in the journal Hypertension, highlight the critical need for early detection and management of elevated blood pressure to prevent long-term kidney damage.

The study focused on how high blood pressure affects podocytes—specialised cells found in the kidney's filtering units known as glomeruli. Podocytes play an essential role in filtering blood and maintaining kidney health. The researchers found that structural damage to these cells can occur even in the absence of other common risk factors such as diabetes.

To conduct the study, the research team analysed kidney tissue samples from 99 patients. The samples were collected during tumour nephrectomies—surgical procedures where part or all of a kidney is removed to treat kidney tumours. Patients were divided into groups based on whether they had hypertension, type 2 diabetes, or neither condition.

Using advanced imaging techniques and artificial intelligence tools, including deep-learning-based image analysis, the researchers assessed the size and density of podocytes and the volume of glomeruli in the tissue samples. A specially trained algorithm enabled the automatic and precise analysis of these microscopic structures.

The findings revealed a clear reduction in podocyte density and an increase in nuclear size among patients with hypertension, even when they did not have diabetes. According to first author Christopher Paschen, these structural alterations likely represent the earliest visible signs of kidney dysfunction caused by high blood pressure.

Professor Rainer Oberbauer and Dr. Heinz Regele, senior authors of the study, emphasized that early intervention could be key in slowing the progression of kidney disease. “These findings underscore the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of hypertension to preserve kidney health,” they said.

The research contributes to a growing body of evidence that high blood pressure, even in its early stages, can have serious and often unnoticed effects on critical organs like the kidneys.