Diabetes and hypertension additively contribute to increased arterial stiffness and pulsatility, suggesting that interventions to reduce stiffness would be beneficial in these conditions.
The additive effect of diabetes and hypertension on arterial stiffness highlights the potential benefit of therapies specifically targeting arterial stiffness in this high-risk population.
In patients with both hypertension and type II diabetes, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases linearly with age, while that of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) declines curvilinearly as early as age 45, all suggesting the development of increased arterial stiffness. Increased stiffness is an important, independent, and significant risk predictor in subjects with hypertension and diabetes. In patients with both diseases, stiffness assessed at the same mean arterial pressure (MAP) was significantly higher in diabetic patients. Arterial stiffness is related to age, heart rate (HR), and MAP, but in diabetic patients, it also related to diabetes duration and insulin treatment (IT). In the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn), diabetes also acts on the small arteries through capillary rarefaction to reduce the effective length of the arterial tree, increases the reflected pulse wave and thus the pulse pressure (PP). These studies indicate that diabetes and hypertension additively contribute to increased pulsatility and suggest that any means to reduce stiffness would be beneficial in these conditions.
Smulyan et al. (Wed,) conducted a review in Hypertension and Type II Diabetes. Diabetes and hypertension additively contribute to increased arterial stiffness and pulsatility, suggesting that interventions to reduce stiffness would be beneficial in these conditions.