Individuals with prehypertension are at
increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, suggest researchers.

However, much of the reported risk appears to be due to the
presence of other components of the metabolic syndrome, including
insulin resistance and body mass index (BMI).

Prehypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure of 120-139
mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure of 80-89 mmHg, is associated
with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and insulin
resistance.

“However, whether subjects with prehypertension have more
diabetes risk is not known,” say David Mullican and colleagues from
the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in the
USA.

In this study, the team followed up 2767 individuals from the
San Antonio Heart Study for incident Type 2 diabetes for a median
period of 7.8 years. The participants were aged 25-65 years.

Mullican and co-workers found that the incidence of
prehypertension was 31.3% at baseline.

Incident Type 2 diabetes occurred in 12.4% of participants with
prehypertension and in 5.6% of those with normal blood pressure at
baseline.

Individuals with prehypertension had a 2.21-fold increased risk
for Type 2 diabetes compared with those with normal blood pressure.
However, the authors found that when they adjusted for BMI,
impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and secretion, and
family history of diabetes, the association was only of borderline
significance.

“Our study confirms previous reports on the relation of
prehypertension to obesity and insulin resistance and demonstrates
that individuals with prehypertension have higher rates of
conversion to diabetes than those with normal blood pressure,”
conclude Mullican et al in the journal Diabetes
Care.

“Further study is needed regarding mechanisms of this phenomenon
and treatment options for participants with prehypertension.”

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an
independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine
Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. Ã?”©
Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2009

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