New research shows lowering blood pressure of dialysis patients may reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Due to reduced kidney function, many dialysis patients have high blood pressure, which is linked with cardiovascular problems such a stroke and heart attack.
 
In a recent study, dialysis patients who lowered their blood pressure over a period of time and kept it under control properly reduced their risk of cardiac death by 29 percent. Researchers found lowering blood pressure reduced the high death rate in dialysis patients, preventing up to one in five deaths.

This article originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Renal Flash.