The researchers examined the health records of four million people, but they were unable to confirm a causal link between high blood pressure and diabetes.
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Kazem Rahimi, deputy director of the George Institute for Global Health United Kingdom, who led the study, said: “This is potentially a game changer in the understanding and treatment of diabetes”.
In the study of more than 9,300 patients with hypertension, using a combination of medicines to reduce systolic pressure to a target of 120 cut the rate of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure by almost a third, and the risk of death by nearly a quarter, compared to target of 140. When medication was taken at night, blood pressure during sleep decreased, which is what happens in people with normal blood pressure and this decrease was associated with the reduction in type II diabetes risk.
“Understanding the link will help us better communicate risks to patients and can provide another motivation for patients and doctors to aim for tight blood pressure control”, says Prof Rahimi. They said it was not yet clear how many more people might require more intensive blood pressure lowering.
The study concluded that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was significantly lower (57%) in people who took the treatment at bedtime than in those who took it during the day or in the morning (22%).
The primary outcome was a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or prescription of insulin/antidiabetic drugs.
In an accompanying editorial of this study, Donna Arnett, PhD, MSPH-from the University of Alabama at Birmingham-called the study “exceptionally rigorous” in its evaluation of the relationship between [systolic] blood pressure and risk for diabetes.
The researchers also found that for every 10 mm mercury increase in systolic blood pressure there was a 52 per cent higher risk of developing diabetes. So, that’s the connection between high blood pressure and type II diabetes.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which sponsored the study, announced a few preliminary results on September 11.
“We are delighted to have achieved this important milestone in the study in advance of the expected closure date for the SPRINT trial and look forward to quickly communicating the results to help inform patient care and the future development of evidence-based clinical guidelines”.
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Experts believe the finding could lead to new insights and strategies for treating and reducing the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes. “We still don’t know”. The later causes high blood pressure by constricting the blood vessels.
