High Salt Intake Is Independently Associated With Hypertensive Target Organ Damage

The authors tested the hypothesis that high salt intake is associated with hypertensive target organ damage (TOD) independent of blood pressure (BP), and oxidative stress is a modifying factor of this association. A total of 369 community‐dwelling Japanese adults (mean age, 67.5 years; 56.6% women) were examined in this observational study. At the patients' annual health check‐ups, urinary salt excretion (U‐SALT), 8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG), and albumin‐creatinine ratio (UACR) were measured from first morning urine. U‐SALT (β=0.14, P =.016) and 8‐OHdG (β=0.13, P =.018) were both independently associated with logUACR. U‐SALT was associated with TOD independent of BP level, and oxidative stress may be a modifying factor in the association between high salt intake and TOD. The elevation of 8‐OHdG may be involved in the pathophysiology of TOD induced by salt intake.