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Hypertension and Diabetes: Treatment Goals African-Americans and High Blood Pressure

Understanding the Link Between Hypertension and Diabetes

Summary & Participants

Controlling blood sugar levels are crucial for people with diabetes. But equally important is blood pressure control. High blood pressure and diabetes often occur together and if left untreated can lead to serious consequences. Join experts as they discuss the link between these two conditions, who is most at risk and how it is diagnosed.

Medically Reviewed On: July 01, 2008

Webcast Transcript

MABEL JONG: Hello, and welcome to our webcast. I'm Mabel Jong. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a widespread medical condition with serious consequences, including kidney disease and heart failure. But on top of these concerns, people with high blood pressure also need to watch out for the signs of diabetes, because these two diseases often go hand in hand.

Joining me today to discuss the strong connection between hypertension and diabetes are Dr. Dominic Sica from the Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, and also Dr. William White from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Dr. White, let's start with you. What is the link between hypertension and diabetes?

WILLIAM WHITE, MD: Well, there's two links. One link is based on the simple numbers. There's a lot more patients who have diabetes in the hypertensive population compared to people who have normal blood pressure. Similarly, people with diabetes have a tendency to get high blood pressure, so there's an epidemiological or population-based increase within each of those disease groups.

There also seems to be a metabolic link between diabetes and high blood pressure due to a resistance in the way the body reacts to insulin, and insulin is not only a good thing, because it causes sugar to go into cells, but it also has some perhaps bad effects in the sense that it causes too much salt retention because of its effect on the kidney.

MABEL JONG: What effects do these somewhat chronic conditions have on the body overall?

WILLIAM WHITE, MD: The major issue with diabetes and high blood pressure together would be the fact that both of them are risks for the development of atherosclerosis or the lining of the arteries getting diseased. So therefore, the risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney disease are all accentuated fairly dramatically when an individual has both high blood pressure as well as diabetes versus having either of those alone.

MABEL JONG: Dr. Sica, it seems like more and more people know someone or have a friend who has diabetes and hypertension. Are there some people that are more susceptible to these conditions than others?

DOMINIC SICA, MD: Yes. I think we've got issues of race, age and inheritance patterns that drive what we see in diabetes. Also, how we gain weight is a very important risk factor, so people whose weight gain tends to localize around the tummy really have a much greater risk of developing diabetes.

MABEL JONG: Dr. White, how apparent is it to someone if they have high blood pressure?

WILLIAM WHITE, MD: Well, the big problem with this disorder is that unless you get your blood pressure checked, you really probably are not going to know you have high blood pressure. So screening programs and going to see a physician annually or every other year becomes somewhat critical to get the proper diagnosis.

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