Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between salt taste threshold and hypertensive nephropathy in patients with essential hypertension. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 346 hypertensive patients in the Department of Cardiology of Daping Hospital from December 2017 to February 2019. Ninety-four patients who met the diagnostic criteria of hypertensive nephropathy and had complete data were selected as observations, and 252 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of essential hypertension but had no renal damage were selected as control group. The salt taste threshold of patients was measured by taking different concentrations of NaCl solution. The difference in salt taste threshold between the two groups of patients was compared, and the correlation between salt taste threshold and hypertensive nephropathy was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve was used to analyze the value of salt taste threshold to predict hypertensive nephropathy. Results The salt taste threshold level of the hypertensive nephropathy group was significantly higher than that in the control group0.075（0.050-0.100） vs 0.050（0.050-0.100） mol/L, Z=-2.559, P=0.010. With the increase of salt taste threshold, the renal function decreased gradually, which was manifested by the increase of urine microalbumin to creatinine ratio, blood creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, urine N-Acetyl-β-glucosaminidase（NAG）, and the decrease of estimated glomerular filtration rate（eGFR） eGFR was 120.40（109.92-137.96）, 117.32（95.88-137.00）, 114.67（95.78-136.15） and 114.05（94.26-138.33） mL/（min·1.73 m~2） respectively in 0.025, 0.050, 0.075 and 0.100-＜0.400 mol/L group, χ~2 for trend=7.402, P=0.007. Logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting for traditional risk factors, salt taste threshold was the independent risk factor for hypertensive nephropathy（OR=1.299, 95%CI 1.020-1.655, P=0.034）. The area under ROC curve was 0.586（95%CI 0.520-0.652）. Conclusions Salt taste threshold correlates with biochemical indicators of renal function in patients with essential hypertension, and increased levels of salt taste threshold is a risk factor of hypertensive nephropathy in patients with essential hypertension.