Sodium intake and blood pressure regulation in CKD: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objective: Salt intake is an important factor in blood pressure regulation in chronic kidney disease (CKD). This review assessed the impact of salt intake on blood pressure (BP) among CKD patients taking age and duration of intake into consideration. Materials and methods: Using PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was carried out on Semantic Scholar, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases. The inclusion criteria were guided by the PICO framework. A total of 337 studies were gathered, after screening 8 studies met the criteria for quality assessment and data extraction (primary outcomes: systolic and diastolic BP). A random-effects model determined the overall effect sizes and heterogeneity across the studies. Results: Low sodium intake significantly (p=0.02) reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP) but did not affect the diastolic blood pressure (DBP). High sodium intake had no significant effect on either systolic or diastolic BP. CKD patients aged≤50 years had lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to patients >50 years. Additionally, long-term low salt intake had lower systolic and diastolic BP compared to short-term intake in patients with CKD. Conclusion: Low dietary sodium intake improves only systolic BP in CKD patients, especially in younger individuals. CKD patients may benefit more from long-term salt reduction than short-term intake. January 2026; Vol. 20(1):003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55010/imcjms.20.003 *Correspondence: Chikadibia Fyneface Amadi, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Rivers State, Nigeria. Email: [email protected]. © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC BY 4.0)