Blood pressure targets in CKD 2021: the never-ending guidelines debacle

In 2021, two updated clinical guidelines were published, providing guidance on blood pressure (BP) targets for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) updated its 2012 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of BP in CKD. Different systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) targets for CKD (<130/80 and <140/90 mmHg, respectively, for people with a urinary albumin: creatinine ratio >30 mg/g or without pathological albuminuria) were replaced by a single number: an SBP target of <120 mmHg is suggested, when tolerated. This represents a major decrease in the SBP target and the abandonment of DBP targets. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) also published a 2021 Clinical Guideline on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice that updates a prior 2016 guideline on prevention and the 2018 ESC/European Society of Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension. The 2021 ESC guideline was endorsed by 12 European scientific societies. The recommended office BP targets for people with CKD are <140–130 mmHg SBP (lower SBP is acceptable if tolerated) and <80 mmHg DBP. The question is: What should the practicing physician do now: treat hypertension in people with CKD to an SBP target of <120 mmHg or to a target of <140–130 mmHg? Major guideline bodies are aware of the activities of other major players. There is an urgent need for guideline bodies to establish communication channels, search consensus on major issues that impact the health of hundreds of millions of people worldwide and end individualism in guidelines generation.