Diabetes and High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is an important risk factor for the development and worsening of many complications of diabetes, including diabetic eye disease and kidney disease. It affects up to 60% of people with diabetes.

Having diabetes increases your risk of developing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, because diabetes adversely affects the arteries, predisposing them to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Atherosclerosis can cause high blood pressure, which if not treated, can lead to blood vessel damage, stroke, heart failure, heart attack, or kidney failure.

Recommended Related to DiabetesCentral (Neurogenic) Diabetes Insipidus

Central diabetes insipidus or central DI has several other names it's known by -- "pituitary DI," "hypothalamic DI," "neurohypophyseal DI," or "neurogenic DI." The disease is completely unrelated to diabetes mellitus even though both display the common symptoms of increased urination and thirst. Central DI is less common than diabetes mellitus, and treatments for the two diseases are completely different. The major characteristic of central diabetes insipidus is extreme thirst and excessive urination...

Read the Central (Neurogenic) Diabetes Insipidus article > >

Compared to people with normal blood pressure readings, men and women with hypertension have an increased risk of:

Coronary artery disease (heart disease)
Strokes
Peripheral vascular disease (hardening of the arteries in the legs and feet)
Heart failure
Even high yet normal blood pressure or pre-hypertension (defined as 120-139/ 80-89) impacts your health. Studies show that people with normal yet high range blood pressure readings, over a 10 year period of follow up time, had a two to three fold increased risk of heart disease.
What Should Blood Pressure Be if You Have Diabetes?
Blood pressure readings vary, but in general your blood pressure should not go above 130/80. The first number is the "systolic pressure" or the pressure in the arteries when your heart beats and fills the arteries with blood. The second number is the "diastolic pressure" or the pressure in the arteries when your heart rests between beats, filling itself with blood for the next contraction.

Having a normal blood pressure is as important to managing diabetes as having good control of your blood sugars when it comes to preventing diabetes complications.