Improvement of glucose/insulin metabolism reduces hypertension in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus recipients of kidney-pancreas transplantation.

There is increasing evidence that metabolic disorders are common in patients with hypertension. To evaluate the relationship between glucose/insulin metabolism and hypertension in diabetes, 61 hypertensive uremic insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients who were recipients of kidney or pancreas/kidney transplants were studied through a 1-year follow-up. Twenty of them received a kidney (K) transplant alone, 13 received a kidney and segmental pancreas (KSP), and 28 received a kidney and whole pancreas (KWP) with duodenocystostomy. All subjects received the same immunosuppressive treatment including steroids, azathioprine, and cyclosporine. The three groups of patients were comparable for biochemical parameters, clinical characteristic, cyclosporine levels, and renal function (creatinine < 2 mg/dl). The association between hypertension and type of transplant was evaluated according a global chi-square test, then the results were broken down into two components to test for differences in hypertension between KP versus K and KWP versus KSP groups. The improvement of hypertension rate was statistically associated with KP transplant the first week after surgery, at discharge, and 1 year after transplantation (hypertension% at 1 week: KWP = 75, KSP = 23 vs. K = 70, P = 0.004; at discharge: KWP = 39, KSP = 31 vs. K = 75, P = 0.017; at 1 yr: KWP = 44, KSP = 54 vs. K = 85, P = 0.02). One year after graft fasting, free immunoreactive insulin as well as glycosylated hemoglobin and glucose levels were statistically lower in the KP groups than in the K-alone recipients. The improvement of hypertension observed in KP recipients suggests a key role of glucose and insulin metabolism on pathogenesis of diabetic hypertension.