Target blood pressure for patients with type 2 diabetes is difficult to achieve in the setting of a busy diabetes clinic

• DOI: 10.1007/bf02915282
• Publication Date: 2008-06-11T04:53:52Z
• Authors: A Agha; D Dillon; M Corbett; S Sreenan
• Keywords: Outpatient clinic

Target blood pressure control in patients with type 2 diabetes should be 130/85 mmHg or less; however, it is not clear how achievable this target is in clinical practice.To assess the adequacy of blood pressure control in patients with type 2 diabetes attending a busy outpatient clinic.One hundred and eight patients with type 2 diabetes were assessed for the presence of hypertension using a cut-off value of 130/85 mmHg. Antihypertensive treatment and diabetic complications were evaluated.Hypertension was present in 67% of patients, in whom 90% were receiving anti-hypertensive treatment. Forty-nine per cent of the treated patients achieved target blood pressure. Of the undertreated patients, 55% were on one antihypertensive agent, 30% were on two agents and 15% were on three or more agents. The corresponding figures for the adequately treated patients were 28%, 31% and 41%, respectively (p=0.03).Adequate blood pressure control was underachieved in this patient group underlying the difficulty in treating blood pressure to target values in patients with type 2 diabetes in the setting of outpatient diabetes clinics. A more aggressive strategy, in particular the use of multiple antihypertensive agents should be adopted.