Prevalence and Control of Hypertension in Iraqi Diabetic Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes and hypertension are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death in humans. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension, and hypertension control among adults with diabetes in Basrah (Southern Iraq). METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted at Al-Faiha Diabetes and Endocrine Center in Basrah. It was started in August 2008 to April 2011. The total number of recruited patients with diabetes was 5578. RESULTS: Hypertensive diabetic patients constituted 89.6% of this study cohort, with 45.3% of them newly discovered in the center. From hypertensive patients, 48.2% achieved the target blood pressure of less than 130/80 mmHg. The results of the multivariate analyses showed that the factors independently associated with the hypertension were aged > 50 years (odds ratio, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.3 to 0.5; p < 0.001), body mass index equal or more than 25 (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.4 to 0.6; p < 0.001), insulin use (odds ratio, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.8; p < 0.001) and duration of diabetes > 5 years (odds ratio, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.7; p < 0.001) . CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that hypertension was seen in ~90% of diabetic patients in Iraq, and approximately half of them were achieving target blood pressure level.