[Cost of the treatments of arterial hypertension associated with diabetes].

In insulin-dependent and non insulin-dependent diabetic patients, the treatment of a modest increase in blood pressure values has been proved effective in reducing the incidence and in improving the evolution of various locations of diabetic angiopathy. This beneficial effect is associated with a cost which can be evaluated by the analysis of IMS and DOREMA data. In France, the evolution of the sales of antihypertensive agents in diabetic patients increased from 117 MF in 1980 to 784 MF in 1991. This dramatic increase is mainly related to the prescription of new antihypertensive agents: calcium antagonists and ACE inhibitors. From 1980 to 1991, the evolution of antihypertensive agent's sales was more important in diabetic patients than in the general population. In 1991, the total cost of antidiabetic treatment: insulin, antidiabetic oral agents and strips for capillary blood glucose monitoring was about 1,100 MF, quite similar to the cost of antihypertensive and hypolipidemic agents used in the same patients.