Diabetes and hypertension.

Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality which often can be attributed to the frequent coexistence of arterial hypertension. There is an additive effect of high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar on the severity, extent and rate of progression of atherosclerotic macrovascular disease. Current evidence has also linked hypertension to acceleration of the chronic microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus including diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. These facts emerge to place diabetic hypertension as a most important public health issue. Questions of frequency, aetiology and the implications of intervention therapy for hypertension in diabetes mellitus are reviewed in this article and can be found in several recent reviews.