Low-blood-pressure-increases-diabetes-mortality-risk

[Cowboyjim]

[url]http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120903/Low-blood-pressure-increases-diabetes-mortality-risk.aspx
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As if it were not already confusing enough for those of us with DM and HT up comes this analysis...

revealed that tight blood pressure control, defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) below 130 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) below 80 mmHg, did not lower the risk for all-cause mortality, except in patients without cardiovascular disease who had DBP levels of 75-79 mmHg, in whom a small 13% reduction in relative risk was observed.

Moreover, at lower SBP and DBP levels the all-cause mortality risk was actually increased.

[phoenix]

I wonder what the average age of this group of patients was.

Over a median follow-up period of 3.5 years, 25,495 (20.2%) patients died, at an event rate of 48.3 per 1000 patient years. Mortality was 28.6% in patients with cardiovascular disease and 19.3% in those without

If I read that correctly that's a lot of people dying!

[Cowboyjim]

approaching a catastrophe...? epidemic even...? 20%.. plus... more than one in five... ouch...

[chalcedony]

This is interesting. I have always believed that lowering blood pressure that is consistently high can actually decrease mortality risk of Diabetes. I think the study providing this result needs to be examined closely for variables that may have contaminated the findings.