A recent study published in the Lancet suggests blood pressure drugs could prevent millions of people worldwide from developing type 2 diabetes. Lowering high blood pressure is an effective way to slash the risk of the disease in the future, it says. While doctors already prescribe cheap blood pressure drugs to reduce the chances of a life-threatening heart attack or stroke, whether these drugs could also help fend off the threat of type 2 diabetes were unanswered.
Researchers have found positive effects of the drugs are much wider than previously thought. In the largest study of its kind, scientists at Oxford and Bristol universities followed more than 145,000 people from 19 global randomized trials for an average of about five years. They found that a 5 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11 per cent. Researchers also 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 II receptor blockers (ARBs) had the strongest protective effect, both reducing someone’s relative risk of developing diabetes by 16 per cent. Other types of blood pressure-lowering drugs were not protective. Calcium channel blockers had no effect on type 2 diabetes risk, while beta blockers and thiazide diuretics actually increased the risk despite their known beneficial effects in preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Prof Kazem Rahimi, lead researcher of the study at the University of Oxford and a consultant cardiologist said, “Our research provides clear evidence that giving ACE inhibitors or ARBs, which are widely available and affordable worldwide, to patients at high risk could curb the growing burden of type 2 diabetes.”
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, the BHF medical director, said, “Diabetes and high blood pressure are two important and growing problems which increase a person’s chance of developing an array of other serious health complications, including heart attacks and strokes. This research shows that the two are inter-connected and that lowering blood pressure could be a powerful way to reduce the risk of developing diabetes.”
He added, “It also shows that different commonly used drugs for lowering blood pressure have very different effects on risk of diabetes. Doctors should therefore consider the patient’s risk of developing diabetes when they are choosing an anti-hypertensive drug to lower their blood pressure.”
The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and the Oxford Martin School.
