The research paper, Association of Blood Pressure Trajectories in Early Life with Subclinical Renal Damage in Middle Age prepared by graduate students, Dr. Zheng Wenling, et al. and instructed by Professor Mou Jianjun, from the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, was published online in the Journals of the American Society of Nephrology (IF: 8.98), an American Journal of nephrology.

This paper collected 30-year follow-up visits of “Hanzhong adolescent hypertension cohort”, identified the blood pressure trajectory of 2,430 patients from childhood to adulthood, created group trajectory model, aiming to explore the relationship between blood pressure trajectories and subclinical renal damage in adulthood. The results showed that higher blood pressure trajectories or increasing trajectories from childhood to adulthood was dependently linked with higher uACR levels and higher risk of subclinical renal damage in adulthood. It is suggested that the identification of blood pressure trajectory from childhood is conductive to predicting the changes of individual renal function in middle age. It is of great significance for early warning and prevention of renal damage of primary hypertension. Dr. Luyckx, Professor of University of Zurichand the executive member of the International Society of Nephrology evaluated the research result and said that, “This study is very important in improving our understanding of the relationship between blood pressure and kidney disease.”

In the early 1980s, led by Professor Liu Zhiquan, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University was pioneered in establishing a long-term follow-up visit system to trace nearly 5,000 children with hypertension in rural area of Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province, aiming to explore the risk factors and first-grade prevention measures for children with hypertension. Up to now, this project has been implemented for more than 30 years. In recent years, Professor Mou led the team to implement follow-up visit in the rural areas of Hanzhong for several times. They have collected specimens and materials and sent them to the laboratory for further study. Based on the longitudinal observation of the trend of blood pressure and its influencing factors, the study team also explores the influencing factors and mechanism of subclinical changes in the target organs such as heart, brain, kidney and blood vessels. A number of valuable research results were published in international journals in succession. In the Hypertension Seoul 2016, the research paper, prepared by Dr. Zhu Chao of the team, won the “International Best Clinical Research Copper Award” and was highly praised by international experts attending the conference.