A sign of high blood pressure
If you need to urinate at night, you should have your blood pressure checked, writes Nadia Badarudin
TRIPS to the toilet at night are a sign of high blood pressure, according to results from the Watari study presented at the 83rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS 2019) in Yokohama, Japan.
“Our study indicates that if you need to urinate at night — called nocturia — you may have elevated blood pressure and/or excess fluid in your body. If you continue to have nocturia, ask your doctor to check your blood pressure and salt intake,” says study author Dr Satoshi Konno of the Division of Hypertension, Tohoku Rosai Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
Previous research from Japan has reported that high salt intake is associated with nocturia. Compared to western countries, people in Japan eat more salt and are more likely to be “salt sensitive”, meaning that their blood pressure rises more when salt is consumed. Taken together, these two factors mean that people in Japan are at greater risk of developing high blood pressure.
THE LINK
Dr Konno’s study examined the link between nocturia and hypertension in the general Japanese population. The study enrolled 3,749 residents of Watari who had an annual health check in 2017. Blood pressure was measured and information on nocturia was obtained through a questionnaire.
Participants with blood pressure 140/90 mmHg or higher or prescribed anti-hypertensive drugs were considered hypertensive.
Nocturia (one or more nocturia events per night) was significantly associated with hypertension after controlling for possible confounders. The risk of hypertension rose significantly as the number of nocturia events per night increased.
“We found that getting up in the night to urinate was linked to a 40 per cent greater chance of having hypertension,” says Dr Konno. “And the more visits to the toilet, the greater the risk of hypertension.”
Of the 1,882 participants who answered the questionnaire, 1,295 (69 percent) had nocturia. However, the results did not prove a causal relationship between nocturia and hypertension and may not apply to populations outside Japan, says the researcher.
“The relationship may be influenced by various factors including lifestyle, salt intake, ethnicity, and genetic background.”
JCS press coordinator Dr Mutsuo Harada says: “Hypertension is a national disease in Japan. The average salt intake in Japan is approximately 10g/day, which is more than double the average salt intake worldwide (4g/day). This excessive salt intake is related to our preference for seafood and soya sauce-based food, so salt restriction is difficult to carry out. We should keep in mind that nocturia is not only caused by urinary organ problems but also by systemic diseases such as hypertension.”
According to European
Society of Cardiology (ESC) president Professor Barbara
Casadei: “More than one billion people have high blood pressure worldwide. High blood pressure is the leading global cause of premature death, accounting for almost 10 million deaths in 2015.
“ESC guidelines recommend medication to reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease. A healthy lifestyle is also advised, including salt restriction, alcohol moderation, healthy eating, regular exercise, weight control, and smoking cessation.”