Positive side effect
Medications for high blood pressure reduce the risk of diabetes
A large-scale study by scientists from Oxford and Bristol Universities has revealed that medications used to lower blood pressure also reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
The researchers analyzed the results of 19 global clinical trials conducted over an average of five years. In total, more than 145 thousand people participated in these tests. They found that reducing systolic blood pressure by 5 mm, which is easily achieved with medication, reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11%.
They also compared the efficacy of five main types of medications for high blood pressure in 22 clinical trials compared with placebo. As it turned out, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) have the strongest protective effect, reducing the relative risk of diabetes by 16%. Other types of drugs that lower blood pressure did not have a protective effect. Calcium channel blockers did not affect the risk of type 2 diabetes, while beta blockers and thiazide diuretics actually increased the risk of the disease. Researchers believe that ACE inhibitors and ARBs should be considered as a possible medication for some patients who are at higher risk of diabetes mellitus.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, who co—organized the study, says: "Diabetes and high blood pressure are two important and growing problems that increase the likelihood of developing many other serious health complications, including heart attacks and strokes. This study shows that they are interrelated and that lowering blood pressure can be a powerful way to reduce the risk of developing diabetes. It also shows that different commonly used medications to lower blood pressure have very different effects on diabetes risk. Therefore, doctors should consider the risk of developing diabetes in a patient when they choose a hypotensive drug to lower blood pressure."
The results of the study are published in the Lancet journal (Nazarzadeh et al., Blood pressure lowering and risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes: an individual participant data meta-analysis).
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