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Association of cardiovascular disease risk and changes in renin levels by mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in patients with primary aldosteronism

A Comment to this article was published on 14 July 2022

Abstract

A recent report stated that patients with primary aldosteronism who remain renin suppressed during mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment might have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those with unsuppressed renin activity. We retrospectively investigated the incidence of composite cardiovascular disease and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in 1115 Japanese patients with primary aldosteronism treated with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists. The median follow-up period was 3.0 years, and the incidence of cardiovascular events was very low (2.1%) throughout 5 years of follow-up. Changes in plasma renin activity from before to after mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment were divided into three groups based on tertile, low, intermediate, and high plasma renin activity change groups, with incidences of cardiovascular disease events of 2.1%, 0.5%, and 3.7%, respectively. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed age (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, [1.02–1.12]) and body mass index (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.13 [1.04–1.23]) as independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The high plasma renin activity change group had significantly higher cardiovascular disease risk with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment than the intermediate plasma renin activity change group (adjusted hazard ratio, 5.71 [1.28–25.5]). These data suggest that a high change in renin level after mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment may not necessarily predict a better prognosis of cardiovascular disease in patients with primary aldosteronism.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the JPAS and JRAS by a Research Grant from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) [grant number JP17ek0109122 and JP20ek0109352] and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Japan [grant number 27–1402, 30–1008]. This study was partly supported by the Research Committee on Disorders of Adrenal Hormones, a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan (Nanjiseisikkanseisakukenkyujigyo [grant number 20FC1020]).

JPAS/JRAS Study Group

Hisashi Fukuda25, Yasushi Tanaka26, Yoshiyu Takeda27, Hironobu Umakoshi28, Yui Shibayama29, Takanobu Yoshimoto30, Junji Kawashima31, Katsutoshi Takahashi32, Megumi Fujita33, Minemori Watanabe34, Yuichi Matsuda35, Hirotaka Shibata36, Kohei Kamemura37, Yuichi Fujii38, Hiromi Rakugi39, Atsushi Ogo40, Shintaro Okamura41, Shozo Miyauchi42, Toshihiko Yanase43, Takashi Kawamura44, Tomikazu Fukuoka45, Tatsuya Kai46, Yuichiro Yoshikawa47, Shigeatsu Hashimoto48, Masanobu Yamada49, Ryuichi Sakamoto50, Chiba Yoshiro51

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Correspondence to Isao Kurihara.

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Nomura, M., Kurihara, I., Itoh, H. et al. Association of cardiovascular disease risk and changes in renin levels by mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in patients with primary aldosteronism. Hypertens Res 45, 1476–1485 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-022-00960-x

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