Atorvastatin and Sympathetic Activity in Chronic Kidney Disease

Hypertensive chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients often have sympathetic hyperactivity which appears to contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension and cardiovascular organ damage. Experimental studies and some clinical studies have shown that statin therapy can reduce central sympathetic activity. Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which is standard treatment for CKD, is known to lower sympathetic activity.

The investigators hypothesize that adding a statin for 6 weeks to RAS blockade would further lower sympathetic activity in hypertensive stage 2-4 CKD patients.

Methods: In ten stable CKD patients who are on chronic treatment with renin-angiotenis blockers, blood pressure and sympathetic activity (quantified by assessment of muscle sympathetic nerve activity, MSNA) will be assessed at baseline and 6 weeks after atorvastatin 20mg/day added.

Ten other CKD patients will serve as time control and will be studied twice with an interval of 6 weeks without any change in medication, to quantify within subject reproducibility.