BACKGROUND: Today, chronic kidney diseases represent a great challenge to public health as regards the acquisition of knowledge to support interventions that can slow the progression of renal function loss. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the magnitude of the renal function deficit in hypertensive adult patients and its relationship with the following inflammatory markers: high-sensitivity C reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. METHODS: Cross-sectional study including 1,273 adult hypertensive patients of both genders, of whom 1,052 had renal function deficit, and 221 had no deficit, as diagnosed by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. The odds ratio (OR) and the prevalence ratio (PR) were used to determine the probability of the occurrence of inflammatory activity in renal disease. RESULTS: Renal function deficit was diagnosed in 82.6% of the patients assessed, and most of the sample (70.8%) was classified as in stage 2 of chronic kidney disease. In the regression model, metabolic syndrome (PRadjusted = 1.09 [95%CI: 1.04-1.14]), high-sensitivity C reactive protein (PRadjusted = 1.54 [95%CI: 1.40-1.69]) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (PRadjusted = 1.20 [95%CI: 1.12-1.28]) remained independently associated with the renal function deficit. However, considering the individuals classified as in stage 2 of renal function deficit, the chance of abnormalities in inflammatory markers were OR = 10.25 (95%CI: 7.00-15.05) for high-sensitivity C reactive protein, OR = 8.50 (95%CI: 5.70-12.71) for neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and OR = 7.18 (95%CI: 4.87-10.61) for erythrocyte sedimentation rate. CONCLUSION: The results show an association of inflammatory activity and metabolic syndrome with renal function deficit.