Effect of telmisartan on blood pressure in patients of type 2 diabetes with or without complications

Introduction: Telmisartan is one of the preferred choices of antihypertensive in patients of diabetes with hypertension (HTN) and lowers blood pressure (BP) effectively. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine BP-lowering efficacy of telmisartan monotherapy in patients of Stage I HTN with or without complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, patients of T2DM without (Group A) or with (Group B) complications who had Stage I HTN and were prescribed telmisartan (20–80 mg/day) treatment were identified from database. Patients included were adults 18 years and above with BP ≥140/80 mmHg but <160/100 mmHg. Data related to demographics, systolic and diastolic BP, blood glucose parameters, and weight before initiation of telmisartan and at the end of 12 weeks treatment were compared with appropriate statistics. Results: In 132 patients included, 28 (21.2%) patients had one or more complications of T2DM. Mean age in Group A and B was similar whereas mean duration of diabetes was significantly higher in Group B than Group A (10.0 ± 5.8 vs. 7.1 ± 5.9, P = 0.023). Telmisartan 40 mg was most frequently used strength (97.1% and 100.0% patients in two groups). Change from baseline in systolic BP in Groups A and B was −19.5 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI] −16.3, −22.7; P < 0.0001) and −24.9 mmHg (95% CI −17.3, −32.5; P < 0.0001), respectively. Reduction in diastolic BP was also significant in two groups. There were no significant differences in adjusted means of systolic and diastolic BP in two groups. In Group A and B, change from baseline in fasting glucose was −3.7 mg/dL (P = 0.647) and −8.4 mg/dL (P = 0.593); in postmeal glucose was −14.8 mg/dL (P = 0.280) and −36.9 mg/dL (P = 0.046), respectively. Conclusion: Telmisartan is effective in lowering BP and improving metabolic parameters in patients of T2DM with or without complications. A larger and long duration study is needed to substantiate our findings.