Hypertension and diabetes relationship

Diabetes mellitus and hypertension coexist more frequently than reported in classic literature in studies of large populations of developed countries yielding values between 60 to 65% of coexistence.

Having hypertension appears to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and having type 2 diabetes increases the risk of hypertension. Both hypertension and diabetes may have some underlying causes in common, and they share some risk factors. They also contribute to a worsening of each other’s symptoms.

The factors involved in this association include:
*The frequency for both diseases increases with age;
*They have the same predisposing factors;
*Hypertension is secondary to the diabetic complications, usually nephropathy in type 1 diabetes;
*Hypertension in type 2 diabetics could appear before, or could be related to, diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetes damages the small blood vessels, causing the walls of the blood vessels to stiffen. This increases pressure, which leads to high blood pressure.”

The combination of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes can greatly increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Hypertension contributes to the development and progression of microvascular (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) and macrovascular (atherosclerotic) complications of diabetes.

Patients with hypertension often exhibit insulin resistance and are at greater risk of diabetes developing than are normotensive individuals.
Hypertension and diabetes relationship

Tests needed if Suffer from High Blood Pressure

The classical causes of secondary high blood pressure are all rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cases of treated high blood pressure.

In practice this means that detailed tests are not usually necessary when high blood pressure is first diagnosed.

Raised blood pressure may be result of a number of conditions apart from essential hypertension. Many kidney diseases cause high blood pressure.

Therefore people are suspected of having this problem, their kidneys are usually checked. In most cases with a single blood and urine test.

Urine test
Urine test to check for protein and sugar in the urine. Leakage of protein may indicate that the kidneys have been damaged from high blood pressure, chronic kidney infection or disease and will need more detail assessment of kidney function.

Testing for sugar is a relatively straight forward way of checking for diabetes.

Similarly, of sugar is present, then blood tests will be needed to confirmed or rule out diabetes.

High blood pressure and diabetes are associated with serious complications and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, eye problems, kidney problems, nerve disease and premature death.

Blood tests
Blood tests for urea, electrolytes and creatinine levels total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol.

Creatinine is a waste product of muscle and usually your kidneys lose their filtering ability, creatinine excretion falls, and blood levels rise from a normal range of 0.5 to 1.5 mg/dL to as high as 10 to 15 mg/dL.

For this reason, the blood creatinine level is a useful gauge of kidney health.
Tests needed if Suffer from High Blood Pressure

Risks of High Blood Pressure

Risks of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is the most common continuing medical condition seen by family doctors. At just what measurement ‘normal’ blood pressure becomes ‘high’ blood pressure that justifies action taken to reduce it is still a subject among doctors. Whatever the definition, the numbers of people needing some sort of treatment for high blood pressure include at least 10% of any larger group of all adult, up to 33% of poorer city adults, and about 50% of all people over 65 years of age.

What high blood pressure is and what it is not?
Everybody’s blood is under pressure, otherwise it wouldn’t circulate around the body. If blood pressure is too high it damages walls of the arteries. After many years, this damage increase risks of coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, bleeding or detachment of the retina, and kidney failure. High blood pressure itself is not a disease, but a treatable cause of these serious disease, which are thereby partly preventable. All these risks are greatly increased if the person also smoke or have diabetes.

Unless it has already caused damage, high blood pressure seldom makes the person feel unwell. It can be very high without causing headaches, breathless, palpitations, faintness, giddiness or any of the symptoms which were once thought to be typical of high blood pressure.
Risks of High Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure

Hypertension and You
High blood pressure (hypertension) is designated as either essential (primary) hypertension or secondary hypertension and is defined as a consistently elevated blood pressure exceeding 140/90 mm Hg.

In essential hypertension (95% of people with hypertension), no specific cause is found, while secondary hypertension (5% of people with hypertension) is caused by an abnormality somewhere in the body, such as in the kidney, adrenal gland, or aortic artery.

Essential hypertension may run in some families and occurs more often in the black population, although the genes for essential hypertension have not yet been identified.

High salt intake, obesity, lack of regular exercise, excessive alcohol or coffee intake, and smoking may all adversely affect the outlook for the health of an individual with hypertension.

High blood pressure is called "the silent killer" because it usually causes no symptoms for many years, even decades, until it finally damages certain critical organs.

Poorly controlled hypertension ultimately can cause damage to blood vessels in the eye, thickening of the heart muscle and heart attacks, hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), kidney failure, and strokes.

Heightened public awareness and screening of the population are necessary to detect hypertension early enough so that it can be treated before damage has occurred to the critical organs.

Lifestyle adjustments in diet and exercise and compliance with medication regimes are important factors in determining the outcome for people with hypertension.

Several classes of anti-hypertensive medications are available, including ACE inhibitors, ARB drugs, beta-blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, alpha-blockers, and peripheral vasodilators.

Most anti-hypertensive medications can be used alone or in combination: some are used only in combination; some are preferred over others in certain specific medical situations; and some are not to be used (contraindicated) in other situations.

The goal of therapy for hypertension is to bring the blood pressure down to 140/85 in the general population and to even lower levels in diabetics, blacks, and people with certain chronic kidney diseases.

Screening, diagnosing, treating, and controlling hypertension early in its course can significantly reduce the risk of developing strokes, heart attacks, or kidney failure.
Hypertension and You