ePWV is an independent risk marker for early renal impairment in non-diabetic hypertensive patients, supporting its potential use in early risk stratification.
Non-diabetic hypertensive patients with early renal impairment had significantly higher estimated pulse wave velocity than those without.
Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a positive linear correlation between ePWV and UACR.
Each 1 m/s increase in ePWV was independently associated with a 43.9% elevated risk of early renal impairment.
ePWV demonstrated superior discriminatory ability for early renal impairment compared to age and mean blood pressure alone.
The association between ePWV and early renal impairment was consistent across multiple subgroups.
This research suggests that a measure of arterial stiffness called estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV) — calculated simply from a person's age and blood pressure — is strongly linked to early kidney damage in people with high blood pressure who do not have diabetes. The study followed 509 such patients and found that those with signs of early kidney impairment (detected by protein leaking into urine) consistently had higher ePWV values. For every 1 m/s increase in ePWV, the odds of having early kidney damage rose by about 44%, and people in the highest ePWV group were nearly five times more likely to show kidney impairment than those in the lowest group. The study also found that ePWV was better at identifying patients with early kidney damage than either age or blood pressure measurements on their own, and adding ePWV to standard clinical information improved the ability to detect at-risk patients. Importantly, ePWV does not require any special equipment — it can be estimated from routine clinical measurements, making it a potentially accessible screening tool. This research suggests that routinely calculating ePWV in hypertensive patients without diabetes could help doctors identify those at risk for kidney damage earlier, potentially allowing for timelier intervention to slow or prevent progression to chronic kidney disease. The findings held up across different groups divided by sex, age, body weight, and kidney function, strengthening confidence in the association.
Kamili K, Zhuo Y, Wang D, Xu S, Li X, Gao P, et al.. (2026). Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity Is Associated with Early Renal Impairment in Non-Diabetic Hypertensive Patients.. Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.). https://doi.org/10.1111/jch.70295