Over 5 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
Uncontrolled hypertension leads to stroke, heart failure, and kidney failure.
It is clear that the combination of these two CVD risk factors has important public health implications. Systolic blood pressure measures the force exerted by the blood as it flows through the arteries when the heart contracts. It is expressed as the top number of the blood pressure reading and now is recognized to be the most important indicator of heart disease risk in adults age 60 and older. The authors of the new advisory note results from several studies showing that efforts to lower high blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes produce dramatic results. Another study reported CVD deaths were reduced 76 percent in hypertensive patients who had type 2 diabetes and 13 percent in patients who had hypertension but no diabetes.