Why Diabetic Men Should Control Blood Pressure
Antihypertensive Medications Reduce Risks of Dying From Diabetes
Jan 30, 2009
One of the largest ever research studies of treatments for Diabetes - the ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease) Study - enrolled 11,140 people having Diabetes from twenty countries and studied them over four years.
Blood Pressure Lowering Medication
The subjects were divided into two equal groups. One group was given a pill containing a combination of blood pressure lowering medications (perindopril and indapamide) while the other group was given a similar looking pill containing no medication (termed a placebo). None of the patients knew which pill they were taking, since all the pills were made to look identical. The new tablet was taken by the patients in addition to the usual medications each of them was taking to control their diabetes. At the end of four years the two groups were compared.
What the research workers found at the end of the study period was that the group which received the tablets containing blood pressure lowering medication had suffered fewer heart attacks and deaths than the group who received the placebo. Moreover, the risk of developing kidney disease in the treated group was reduced by over 20% and the risk of suffering death from a cardiovascular event (a heart attack or stroke) was reduced by 18%.
These benefits were seen not only in patients who had Hypertension (High Blood Pressure, defined as a blood pressure above 140/90), but was also evident in patients who began the study with blood pressure levels below this cut-off point. In other words, it did not matter whether your blood pressure was higher than "normal" or not – what the study showed was that if you had Diabetes, taking these blood pressure lowering medications was good for you.
Lowering Blood Pressure in Diabetics
Observed Dr Daniel Jones, President of the American Heart Association, "We spend great effort and considerable financial resources trying to treat Diabetes effectively. This study demonstrates a simple and effective way to save lives – just lower the blood pressure in diabetics!"
It is estimated that today there are about 250 million people in the world with Diabetes – and most of them will eventually die from complications of the disease. The commonest cause of death in Diabetics is heart disease, while kidney damage leading to renal failure is a common sequel of this disease.
Professor Stephen MacMahon from the George Institute for International Health in Australia who was one of the study leaders, put the message from the ADVANCE study in practical terms. "These results" he said, "represent an important step forward – showing that by taking blood pressure lowering medications the likelihood of dying from the complications of diabetes can be reduced by almost one fifth."
Diabetes and Heart Attacks
Having Diabetes elevates a person’s risk of getting a heart attack to the same level as that of a person already having coronary heart disease. What the ADVANCE study has shown is that in persons with Diabetes, taking blood pressure lowering medication can reduce this risk – and the risk of premature death.
So if you are one of the many folk in this world who has Diabetes and are not currently taking blood pressure lowering tablets, just broach the subject with your doctor.
Starting these medications could well keep you around – and healthy - for a good while longer.
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