[Microalbuminuria in hypertension]

Microalbuminuria is a sensitive marker of early renal damage in essential hypertension as well as diabetes mellitus. Elevated urinary albumin excretion has positive correlations with other cardiovascular risk factors. Microalbuminuria has an independent value to predict cardiovascular disease in the patients with not only diabetes mellitus but also with essential hypertension and even in general population. The seventh report of the joint national committee on prevention, detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure (JNC 7) has adopted microalbuminuria or estimated glomerular filtration rate60 ml/min as one of the major cardiovascular risk factors. It is an important future task whether decrease in urinary albumin excretion with treatment improves prognosis of individual patients.