Nephrosclerosis

The term 'hypertensive nephrosclerosis' is often used to define chronic kidney disease in non-diabetic patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension and low level or absent proteinuria; however, this terminology implies that the hypertension is causative of the kidney disease. Here, Barry Freedman and Arthur Cohen describe the differences between genetically mediated forms of glomerulosclerosis and arteriolar nephrosclerosis that is potentially related to hypertension and other vascular disease risk factors. They argue that the term 'hypertensive nephrosclerosis' should be replaced with terminology that better reflects the underlying disease aetiology, to improve diagnostic accuracy in this field.