The heart rate non-dipping pattern was associated with target organ damage in patients with chronic kidney disease

We performed the study to investigate the association between heart rate (HR) non-dipping pattern and target organ damage in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension.

In this cross-sectional study, 447 patients with CKD and hypertension were enrolled. 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was conducted. Linear regression and logistic regression analysis were conducted to investigate the association between HR non-dipping pattern and target organ damage, including estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

Overall, 261 patients (58.4%) followed non-dipping patterns of HR. HR non-dipping pattern remained to be significantly associated with reduced eGFR (β: −0.384; 95% CI: −0.719 to −0.050; p = 0.025) and the higher prevalence of CKD stages 4–5 (OR: 2.141; 95% CI: 1.153 to 3.977; p = 0.016). Meanwhile, HR non-dipping pattern was independently associated with LVMI (β: 0.021; 95% CI: 0.000 to 0.041; p = 0.049) and LVH (OR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.96; p = 0.027) after adjusting for confounding factors.

HR non-dipping pattern was independently associated with impaired renal function and cardiac damage. Non-dipping HR deserves further attention and needs to be detected and treated during the management of CKD patients.