[Special problems in diabetics with hypertension]

Diabetes and hypertension are independent risk factors of coronary heart disease as well as of other cardiovascular diseases, and their combination substantially enhances the risk. Hypertension is twice to four times as frequent in diabetics than in the non-diabetic population. The most frequent form is essential hypertension which affects the relatively most numerous group of the II diabetics but may occur also in type I diabetics. Insulin dependent diabetics suffer more frequently from "renal diabetic hypertension" and tend to develop hyporeninaemic hypoaldosteronism. Other types of hypertension found in diabetics are systolic hypertension and hypertension with orthostatic hypotension. In an effort to improve the adverse prognosis of diabetics with hypertension it is essential to pay systematic attention to early detection of high blood pressure, its differential diagnosis and treatment, and to detect, and if possible eliminate, other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.