BACKGROUND: The prevalence of secondary causes of hypertension in young adults is unknown, and therefore, there is no consensus about the indication of screening of secondary hypertension (2HTN) in this population. The objective was to report the prevalence and the causes of 2HTN in young subjects. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 2090 patients with confirmed hypertension aged 18 to 40 years with full workup for 2HTN screening were included. We assessed the prevalence of 2HTN and analyzed the factors associated. RESULTS: Among 2090 patients, 619 (29.6%) had a 2HTN. The most frequent diagnoses of 2HTN in descending order were primary aldosteronism (n=339; 54.8%), renovascular hypertension (n=114; 18.4%), primary kidney disease (n=80; 12.9%), pheochromocytoma/functional paraganglioma (n=37; 5.9%), hypertension caused by drugs or substances (n=32; 6.0%), and other diagnoses (n=17; 2.7%). Patients with blood pressure <160/100 mm Hg did not have a lower prevalence of 2HTN regardless of the number of treatments. The prevalence of 2HTN was higher in the decade between 30 and 40 years of age than between 18 and 30 years of age ( P =0.024). Female sex, hypokalemia, treatment with at least 2 medications, no familial history of hypertension, body mass index <25 kg/m², and diabetes were associated with a higher prevalence of 2HTN. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of 2HTN is high among young patients with hypertension (29.6% in our cohort), regardless of age and blood pressure level. All patients with hypertension under 40 years of age should be screened for secondary causes.

Background: Renal resistive index (RI) predicts mortality in renal transplant recipients (RTR). However, its predictive value may be different according to the time of measurement. We analysed RI changes between 1 month and 3 months after transplantation and its predictive value for death with a functioning graft (DWFG). Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in 1685 RTR between 1985 and 2017. The long-term predictive value of changes in RI value from 1 month to 3 months was assessed in diabetic and non-diabetic RTR. Results: Best survival was observed in RTR with RI < 0.70 both at 1 and 3 months, and the worst survival was found in RTR with RI ≥ 0.70 both at 1 and 3 months (HR = 3.77, [2.71–5.24], p < 0.001). The risk of DWFG was intermediate when RI was < 0.70 at 1 month and ≥ 0.70 at 3 months (HR = 2.15 [1.29–3.60], p = 0.003) and when RI was ≥0.70 at 1 month and < 0.70 at 3 months (HR = 1.90 [1.20–3.03], p = 0.006). In diabetic RTR, RI was significantly associated with an increased risk of death only in those with RI < 0.70 at 1 month and ≥ 0.70 at 3 months (HR = 4.69 [1.07–20.52], p = 0.040). RI considered as a continuous variable at 1 and 3 months was significantly associated with the risk of DWFG in nondiabetic but not in diabetic RTR. Conclusion: RI changes overtime and this impacts differently diabetic and nondiabetic RTR. RI short-term changes have a strong prognosis value and refines the risk of DWFG associated with RI.

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive encephalopathy (HE) constitutes a serious condition, usually observed in patients with long-lasting hypertension. Hypertension-associated HE is sometimes differentiated from the stroke-associated hypertensive emergency. Whether prognosis of hypertension-associated and stroke-associated HE is different is unclear. METHODS: Characteristics and prognosis of HE were assessed in this nationwide retrospective cohort study in all patients with an administrative code of HE compared with age-, sex- and year of inclusion-matched controls admitted to French hospitals during the 2014 to 2022 period. RESULTS: HE was identified in 7769 patients. Chronic kidney disease (19.3%), coronary artery disease (13.8%), diabetes (22.1%), and ischemic stroke (5.2%) were frequent but thrombotic microangiopathy, hemolytic-uremic syndrome, systemic sclerosis or renal infarction were <1%. HE prognosis was poor (death: 10.4%/y, heart failure: 8.6%/y, end-stage kidney disease: 9.0%/y, ischemic stroke: 3.6%/y, hemorrhagic stroke: 1.6%/y, dementia: 4.1%/y). The risk of death was increased to a similar extent in patients with HE, regardless of the presence of known hypertension or concomitant stroke (versus patients without HE). Among patients with HE, known hypertension was significantly associated with increased risks of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, heart failure, vascular dementia, and all-cause dementia and to a lesser extent with chronic dialysis in multivariable analyses including adjustment on concomitant stroke. CONCLUSIONS: HE remains a considerable health burden and is associated with a poor prognosis. The distinction between hypertension- versus stroke-associated HE is relevant as these 2 situations convey different risks of stroke, heart failure, vascular dementia, and end-stage kidney disease.

Hypertension (HTN) is the most frequent modifiable risk factor in the world, affecting almost 30 to 40% of the adult population in the world. Among hypertensive patients, 10 to 15% have so-called “secondary” HTN, which means HTN due to an identified cause. The most frequent secondary causes of HTN are renal arteries abnormalities (renovascular HTN), kidney disease, and endocrine HTN, which are primarily due to adrenal causes. Knowing how to detect and explore endocrine causes of hypertension is particularly interesting because some causes have a cure or a specific treatment available. Moreover, the delayed diagnosis of secondary HTN is a major cause of uncontrolled blood pressure. Therefore, screening and exploration of patients at risk for secondary HTN should be a serious concern for every physician seeing patients with HTN. Regarding endocrine causes of HTN, the most frequent is primary aldosteronism (PA), which also is the most frequent cause of secondary HTN and could represent 10% of all HTN patients. Cushing syndrome and pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are rarer (less than 0.5% of patients). In this review, among endocrine causes of HTN, we will mainly discuss explorations for PA and PPGL.

Background: The risk of bleeding after percutaneous biopsy in kidney transplant recipients is usually low but may vary. A pre-procedure bleeding risk score in this population is lacking. Methods: We assessed the major bleeding rate (transfusion, angiographic intervention, nephrectomy, hemorrhage/hematoma) at 8 days in 28,034 kidney transplant recipients with a kidney biopsy during the 2010–2019 period in France and compared them to 55,026 patients with a native kidney biopsy as controls. Results: The rate of major bleeding was low (angiographic intervention: 0.2%, hemorrhage/hematoma: 0.4%, nephrectomy: 0.02%, blood transfusion: 4.0%). A new bleeding risk score was developed (anemia = 1, female gender = 1, heart failure = 1, acute kidney failure = 2 points). The rate of bleeding varied: 1.6%, 2.9%, 3.7%, 6.0%, 8.0%, and 9.2% for scores 0 to 5, respectively, in kidney transplant recipients. The ROC AUC was 0.649 (0.634–0.664) in kidney transplant recipients and 0.755 (0.746–0.763) in patients who had a native kidney biopsy (rate of bleeding: from 1.2% for score = 0 to 19.2% for score = 5). Conclusions: The risk of major bleeding is low in most patients but indeed variable. A new universal risk score can be helpful to guide the decision concerning kidney biopsy and the choice of inpatient vs. outpatient procedure both in native and allograft kidney recipients.