Good blood pressure control can prevent “major cardiovascular events” among people living with type 2 diabetes, a new study has claimed.
Researchers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that lower blood pressure can stop people with type 2 diabetes from developing heart failure.
In addition, good blood pressure control can combat heart attacks and strokes, the study has reported.
- Lowering systolic blood pressure can combat heart problems among people with type 2 diabetes
- New wearable ultrasound patch for continuous blood pressure monitoring developed
- Lower blood pressure associated with 5 minutes of extra exercise a day
Senior author Dr Jiang said: “These results provide support for more intensive systolic blood pressure control in people with diabetes to prevent major cardiovascular events.”
Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats. It’s the top number in a blood pressure reading, and it is always higher than the bottom number, which is diastolic blood pressure.
“Most current clinical guidelines recommend people with type 2 diabetes maintain a systolic blood pressure of less than 130 mm Hg; however, little evidence exists to support this recommendation,” said Dr He.
More than 12,000 adults with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure were recruited to the new Blood Pressure Control Target in Diabetes trial.
Each participant was put into one of two groups, with group one aiming for a standard treatment goal of less than 140 and group two going for an intensive-treatment goal of less than 120.
Antihypertensive medications were given to the participants to achieve these recommended goals, which most of them did after one year.
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Participants in the intensive blood pressure treatment group were 21% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease compared to those in the standard treatment group, the research has revealed.
A total of 492 major cardiovascular events occurred in the standard-target group, compared to 393 in the intensive blood pressure treatment group, the trial has shown.
Dr He said: “These results demonstrate that more aggressive treatment for high blood pressure that achieves a systolic reading closer to 120 could prevent more cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.
“These findings support developing new clinical guidelines to further reduce blood pressure in people with diabetes and hypertension.”
Read more in the New England Journal of Medicine.