Simple renal cysts and circadian blood pressure: are they related to each other in patients with hypertension?

Previous studies have shown that the presence of simple renal cysts was related to hypertension. However, the relationship between simple renal cysts and circadian blood pressure was not studied before. Our study population comprised of newly diagnosed patients with essential hypertension. Medical history, physical examination and office blood pressure measurements, laboratory analysis, ambulatory blood pressure measurements, renal ultrasonography, and 24-h urine specimens were collected. In total, the study included 190 patients (male/female ratio 77/113; mean age 50.3 ± 11.3). Overall, 127 (66.8%) patients were dippers and 92 (48.4%) had at least one simple renal cyst. Thirty-five patients had solitary cysts and 57 patients had multiple cysts. Cysts were bilateral in 47 of patients. Most of ambulatory blood pressure recordings were higher in patients with at least one simple cyst when compared to patients without cysts. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, serum uric acid (P: 0.047, OR: 1.287, CI: 1.011-1.658), lower creatinine clearance (P: 0.001, OR: 1.030, CI: 1.012-1.049), presence of diabetes (P: 0.029, OR: 2.451, CI: 1.094-5.491), and presence of at least one cyst in each kidney (P: 0.002, OR: 3.087, CI: 1.533-6.212) were found to be independently related to nocturnal non-dipping. In conclusion, the presence of simple renal cysts is related to higher ambulatory BP and is associated with non-dipping phenomenon in patients with essential hypertension.