Authors

The review process for this guideline was in accordance with the PRISMA statement (9). Several databases were searched (including PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane and CINAHL) to obtain articles that met eligibility for the literature review. Articles included were those with a publication date from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2022 published in the English language. Full details of the PICO search tool, with all included databases and search strategies, are available in Appendix B.

Detailed inclusion criteria, according to the PICO search tool, are available in Appendix B. Exclusion criteria were studies relating to: (i) acute haemodialysis, (ii) acute peritoneal dialysis, (iii) continuous veno-venous haemofiltration and other acute kidney replacement modalities, and (iv) non-systemic hypertension in any specialised vascular bed (e.g. pulmonary, intracranial).

All articles identified from the literature search were allocated to a predefined topic group by lead authors AF and TD. The seven topic groups were developed along the main themes highlighted previously. Within each topic group, articles were screened by at least two authors. Any discrepancies in whether an article met inclusion criteria were dealt with by mutual agreement between the authors allocated to that topic group, and TD or ID if consensus could not be met. Authors for each topic group are listed in Appendix B.

For articles where there was a consensus opinion on inclusion, data extracted were: study aim, study design, method of BP assessment, follow-up period, sample size, population (country and kidney replacement therapy modality), primary analysis, and major results. These data are summarised in the Evidence Tables (Appendix C) and findings were used to support the rationale for the recommendations of this guideline. The recommendations and supporting rationale were reviewed by all authors and by key stakeholders prior to publication of the guidelines.

We followed the principles set out in the UK Kidney Association’s “Clinical Practice Guideline Development Manual” and grade evidence according to a two-tier grading system (see Table 1.1). We use the term “recommend” within the guideline text where Recommendations are based on Grade 1 evidence, and the term “suggest” for those based on Grade 2 evidence. We also made ungraded ‘Research recommendations’, which help define ongoing areas of clinical uncertainty, and we offer ‘Audit measures’, to define how to demonstrate effective implementation of recommendations.

All authors made declarations of interest in line with the policy in the UK Kidney Association Clinical Practice Guidelines Development Manual. Further details can be obtained on request from The UK Kidney Association.

The authors would like to thank Mr Mark Kerr, Clinical Librarian, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, for his considerable support in the design, refinement and execution of the search strategies detailed in Appendix B.