Blood pressure drugs could help in diabetes

LOWERING high blood pressure is an effective way of reducing someone’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes, research carried out in Bristol suggests.

Blood pressure-lowering drugs are already prescribed to lower an individual’s chance of a life-threatening heart attack or stroke, but until now it had not been known whether the medications can help stave off diabetes.

A new study reveals the drugs’ protective effects are wider than previously thought and may directly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

In the UK 13.6 million people are estimated to be at high risk of developing the condition.

In a study of more than 145,000 people from 19 randomised clinical trials across the world, researchers at the universities of Bristol and Oxford found that a 5 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure - easily achieved through blood pressure-lowering drugs or lifestyle changes - reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11 per cent.

Participants were followed up for an average of 4.5 years and 9,883 people developed type 2 diabetes.

Researchers say the reduction was confirmed using genetic data analysis.

People with genetically influenced lower blood pressure levels had a 12 per cent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, compared with those without the genetic associations.

The researchers then investigated the effects of five major types of blood pressure drugs from 22 clinical trials compared with a placebo.

They found angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor-II blockers (ARBs) had the strongest protective effect, reducing the relative risk of developing diabetes by 16 per cent.

Other types of blood pressure-lowering drugs were not protective, the study said.

It also found that calcium channel blockers had no effect on diabetes risk, while beta-blockers and thiazide diuretics increased the risk despite their known beneficial effects in preventing heart attacks and strokes.

This risk is already known and doctors consider it when prescribing these drugs.

The research, published in The Lancet, was also funded by the National Institute

for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and the Oxford Martin School.