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BACKGROUNDHypertension plus obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is recommended in some guidelines as an indication to screen for primary aldosteronism (PA), yet prior data has brought the validity of this recommendation into question. Given this context, it remains unknown whether this screening recommendation is being implemented into clinical practice.METHODSWe conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of all adult Ontario (Canada) residents with hypertension plus OSA from 2009 to 2020 with follow-up through 2021 utilizing provincial health administrative data. We measured the proportion of individuals who underwent PA screening via the aldosterone-to-renin ratio by year. We further examined screening rates among patients with hypertension plus OSA by the presence of concurrent hypokalemia and resistant hypertension. Clinical predictors associated with screening were assessed via Cox regression modeling.RESULTSThe study cohort included 53,130 adults with both hypertension and OSA, of which only 634 (1.2%) underwent PA screening. Among patients with hypertension, OSA, and hypokalemia, the proportion of eligible patients screened increased to 2.8%. Among patients ≥65 years with hypertension, OSA, and prescription of ≥4 antihypertensive medications, the proportion of eligible patients screened was 1.8%. Older age was associated with a decreased likelihood of screening while hypokalemia and subspecialty care with internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, or nephrology were associated with an increased likelihood of screening. No associations with screening were identified with sex, rural residence, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or respirology subspecialty care.CONCLUSIONSThe population-level uptake of the guideline recommendation to screen all patients with hypertension plus OSA for PA is exceedingly low.

BACKGROUND Reservoir-wave analysis (RWA) separates the arterial waveform into reservoir and excess pressure (XSP) components, where XSP is analogous to flow and related to left ventricular workload. RWA provides more detailed information about the arterial tree than traditional blood pressure (BP) parameters. In end-stage renal disease (ESRD), we have previously shown that XSP is associated with increased mortality and is higher in patients with arteriovenous fistula (AVF). In this study, we examined whether XSP increases after creation of an AVF in ESRD. METHODS Before and after a mean of 3.9 ± 1.2 months following creation of AVF, carotid pressure waves were recorded using arterial tonometry. XSP and its integral (XSPI) were derived using RWA through pressure wave analysis alone. Aortic stiffness was assessed by carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV). RESURLTS In 38 patients (63% male, age 59 ± 15 years), after AVF creation, brachial diastolic BP decreased (79 ± 10 vs. 72 ± 12 mm Hg, P = 0.002), but the reduction in systolic BP, was not statistically significant (133 ± 20 vs. 127 ± 26 mm Hg, P = 0.137). However, carotid XSP (14 [12–19] to 17 [12–22] mm Hg, P = 0.031) and XSPI increased significantly (275 [212–335] to 334 [241–439] kPa∙s, P = 0.015), despite a reduction in CF-PWV (13 ± 3.6 vs. 12 ± 3.5 m/s, P = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS Creation of an AVF resulted in increased XSP in this population, despite improvement in diastolic BP and aortic stiffness. These findings underline the complex hemodynamic impact of AVF on the cardiovascular system., Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

BACKGROUND The mechanism explaining the inverse association between renal urate and albumin excretion remains unclear. First, we evaluated the impact of candidate variants in the main urate transporter genes (i.e., SLC2A9, SLC22A12, ABCG2) on the association between fractional excretion of uric acid (FEUA) and urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (uACR). Second, we examined uromodulin and sodium excretion as mediators of the association between FEUA and uACR. METHODS We performed cross-sectional analysis of 737 French Canadians from the CARTaGENE cohort, a random sample of the Quebec population aged 40–69 years (a total of 20,004 individuals). Individuals with available genotyping and urinary data were obtained from a sub-study including gender-matched pairs with high and low Framingham Risk Score and vascular rigidity index. We further excluded individuals with an estimated glomerular filtration rate RESULTS Final analyses included 593 individuals (45.5% of men; mean age 54.3 ± 8.6). We observed an antagonistic interaction between rs13129697 variant of the SLC2A9 gene and FEUA tertiles on uACR (P = 0.002). Using the mediation analysis, uromodulin explained 32%, fractional excretion of sodium (FENa) 44%, and uromodulin together with FENa explained 70% of the inverse relationship between FEUA and uACR. Bootstrapping process confirmed the role of both mediators. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that the association of albuminuria with decreased renal urate excretion may be modified by the transporter SLC2A9, and mediated by uromodulin and sodium handling.

A positive association between nephrolithiasis and blood pressure has been suggested in previous studies. However, controversy remains, due to methodological problems in some of the previous studies and absence of prospective data. We evaluated the relationship between nephrolithiasis and the risk of hypertension in a cohort of 51,529 men followed prospectively for 8 years. Information was obtained by biennial mailed questionnaires. At baseline in 1986, 4111 (8.0%) subjects reported a history of nephrolithiasis and 11,623 (22.6%) a diagnosis of hypertension. A positive association was found between the two disorders (age adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.30 to 1.32). Among men who reported both disorders, 79.5% reported that the occurrence of nephrolithiasis was prior to or concomitant with the diagnosis of hypertension. Among men without hypertension at baseline, the odds ratio for incident hypertension in men with a history of nephrolithiasis compared with those without was 1.29 (95% CI: 1.12 to 1.41; adjusted for age, body mass index, and intake of calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and alcohol). The occurrence of incident nephrolithiasis during follow-up was similar in men with hypertension at baseline compared with that in men without (adjusted OR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.82 to 1.21). These data support the hypothesis that prior occurrence of nephrolithiasis increases the risk of subsequent hypertension.