Familial aggregation of type 2 diabetes mellitus as an etiological factor in hypertension

Blood pressure (BP) and serum urate concentrations were measured in 22 normoglycaemic, non-obese, middle-aged men with a strong family history of Type 2 diabetes and in 51 controls, taking confounding variables such as sex, age, body weight and life style habits into account. The subjects with a positive family history of diabetes, who were also characterized by impaired physical fitness and insulin secretion, had significantly elevated BP in comparison with the controls, most pronounced for diastolic BP. Serum urate concentration tended to be somewhat higher in the positive family history group than in controls, although not significantly. Blood pressure was positively correlated to plasma insulin concentrations, while negatively correlated to physical fitness, assessed by submaximal exercise tests. The data support the hypotheses that some of the metabolic disturbances and atherosclerosis risk factors associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus may precede the disturbance of glucose tolerance and that advice on life style habits may be of benefit to certain individuals at risk.