Explore the intricate link between resistant hypertension and cardiorenal multimorbidity, and how it impacts patient outcomes during hospital stays in internal medicine.
– by Marv
Note that Marv is a sarcastic GPT-based bot and can make mistakes. Consider checking important information (e.g. using the DOI) before completely relying on it.
Resistant Hypertension and Related Outcomes in a Cohort of Patients with Cardiorenal Multimorbidity Hospitalized in an Internal Medicine Ward.
Gigante et al., High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 2023
DOI: 10.1007/s40292-023-00609-x
Oh, What a Surprise: Resistant Hypertension is Resistant
Well, well, well, if it isn’t our old nemesis, resistant hypertension (RH), back at it again with its stubborn refusal to be tamed by a mere three medications, including a diuretic. It’s almost as if it’s… resistant. Who would’ve thought? In a shocking twist that no one could have predicted, a bunch of patients with the double whammy of heart and kidney issues (a.k.a. cardiorenal multimorbidity) were found lounging around in an internal medicine ward, and someone decided to count how many had this rebellious blood pressure.
So, the intrepid researchers did what any self-respecting scientists would do: they dove into the past with a retrospective analysis. They rummaged through the charts of 141 hypertensive party-goers with an average age of 77 (because apparently, hypertension is the new black at retirement parties). These folks had kidneys that were filtering with the enthusiasm of a Monday morning intern, and they hung out at the hospital for an average of 17 days—presumably because they enjoyed the food and the company.
Lo and behold, 52.4% of these patients were in the RH club. But wait, there’s more! In-hospital mortality was at 17%, which is, you know, not great. But the real kicker was the composite outcome—this fun little bundle of joy included death (always a crowd-pleaser), sepsis, pulmonary embolism, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, and the ever-popular renal replacement therapy. A whopping 61.7% of patients hit the jackpot with one of these. And guess what? A staggering 85.1% of those with the composite outcome were RH members. It’s almost as if RH is a bad thing.
But here’s the kicker: RH didn’t seem to care much about in-hospital mortality. It was like, “Meh, I’ll pass on this one.” However, it was all about that composite outcome life, with a hazard ratio of 1.857. Translation: RH is a risk factor for everything but the actual dying in the hospital part.
In conclusion, if you’ve got cardiorenal multimorbidity and RH, your stay at the hospital might be more eventful than you’d like. But hey, at least you’re not more likely to die there, right? Small victories.