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Controlling AM Blood
Pressure May Help Diabetics
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - People with type 2 diabetes
who consistently have elevated blood pressure in the morning may
be more likely to suffer complications such as kidney disease,
eye disease, heart disease and stroke, new study findings suggest.
Dr. Kyuzi Kamoi of Nagaoka Red
Cross Hospital in Niigata, Japan and colleagues published their
current report in the December issue of the journal Diabetes Care
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the
body loses its ability to respond to the effects of insulin, a
hormone that helps the body to use sugar as fuel.
The condition is associated with
obesity and increases the risk of heart disease, kidney failure,
blindness and limb amputations. The longer people live with type
2 diabetes, the more likely they are to have devastating medical
complications.
Previous research has shown that
morning blood pressure can predict mortality risk in people who
have hypertension, according to the Kamoi and colleagues.
In the current study, the investigators
aimed to see how well regular home morning blood pressure readings
for people with type 2 diabetes predicted complications related
to their disease compared to blood pressure readings taken at
a clinic. A total of 170 people participated. All were being treated
with blood-pressure-lowering and anti-diabetic medications.
Both high blood pressure at home
and in the clinic were defined as systolic blood pressure-the
higher number in a blood pressure reading--equal to or above 130
millimeters of mercury (mmHg), and/or diastolic pressure, or the
lower number, equal to or above 85 mmHg.
There were no significant differences
in the prevalence of kidney disease, eye disease heart disease
or cerebrovascular disease between people whose blood pressure
measured high at the clinic and those whose did not. But the researchers
did find that people whose morning readings revealed higher blood
pressures were more likely to have diabetes-linked complications
and heart disease than those whose blood pressure did not climb
in the morning.
"In summary, in patients with type
2 diabetes, hypertension based on self-measurement of blood pressure
in the morning after awakening is strongly related to...complications,
especially (kidney disease)," the authors write.
"It is concluded that control of
morning hypertension may prevent vascular complications in type
2 diabetic patients."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care 2002;25:2218-2223.
Reference
Source 89
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