Morning Blood Pressure and Diabetes

Stroke and kidney, eye, and heart disease may lie in the future for people with type 2 diabetes and consistently high blood pressure in the morning. As reported in the December 2002 issue of Diabetes Care, 170 people in Japan were studied, each of whom was being treated with blood pressure?lowering and antidiabetic medications. The study defined high blood pressure as 130/85 mm Hg.

?In summary, in patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension based on self-measurement of blood pressure in the morning after awakening is strongly related to . . . complications, especially kidney disease,? the researchers concluded. ?Control of morning hypertension may prevent vascular complications in type 2 diabetic patients.?