Association between Quantitative Classification of Renal Surface Nodularity and Early Renal Injury in Patients with Arterial Hypertension

Objective: To explore the association between quantitative classification of renal surface nodularity (qRSN) based on computed tomography (CT) imaging and early renal injury (ERI) in patients with aerial hypertension. Methods: A total of 143 patients with a history of hypertension were retrospectively enrolled; clinical information (age, sex, hypertension grade, hypertension course, poorly controlled hypertension), laboratory tests and qRSN were collected or assessed. The subjects were divided into an ERI (n=60) or a control (CP, n=83) group according to ERI diagnosis based on the following criteria: cystatin C > 1.02 mg/L, creatinine ≤ 127 μmol/L, and urea nitrogen ≤ 8.3 mmol/L. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression were used to examine the association between ERI and qRSN. A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was produced to compare multiple logistic regression models with or without qRSN for differing the ERI group from the control group. Results: In univariate analysis, hypertension grade, poorly controlled hypertension, hypertension course, triglycerides (TG) and qRSN were related to ERI in patients with arterial hypertension (all P <0.1), with strong interrater agreement of qRSN. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed an area under the ROC curve of 0.705 in the model without qRSN and 0.789 in the model with qRSN, which was significantly different ( Z =2.317, P =0.021). Conclusion: CT imaging-based qRSN was associated with ERI in patients with arterial hypertension and may be an imaging biomarker of early renal injury.