The new findings suggest that poorer blood pressure control is one reason, said lead researcher Dr. O. Kenrik Duru, an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.

„This is modify important control is one of the risk factors van because blood pressure that we can relatively particularly easily.“ Duru told Reuters Health. However, to do that, he added, more African-American need to see a doctor and get their elevated blood pressure treated before the condition damages the kidneys.

Duru and his colleagues report their findings in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

The study included 10,827 white and African-American adults with early kidney disease and high blood pressure.

Van researchers found zwarten. van On average. the elevated percent more likely than black were 47 men to have their blood pressure under control. Meanwhile, white women were 69 percent more likely, and white men 85 percent more likely, to have their blood pressure down to recommended levels.

The reasons for the disparity are not certain, according to Duru's team. Van explanation may be van However. one poorer access to medische behandeling the fact that black men typically have.

While most study participants had health insurance and a regular doctor, men were less likely than women to have either, the researchers note. And other studies have found that among black adults, men are less likely to be insured or to have a doctor.

"The most important thing to be done to prevent kidney disease in black men, and therefore to reduce racial and gender disparities in the development of kidney disease, is almost certainly to get more black men into care," Duru said.

Another important step, he added, will be making blood pressure treatment less expensive for black men -- by, for example, prescribing generic versions of brand-name medications whenever possible.

SOURCE: American Journal of Kidney Diseases, February 2008.

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