Hypertension and mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic Finnish men

Association of hypertension with six-year total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality was studied among 139 diabetic and 8725 non-diabetic Finnish men aged 40-64 years who were initially CVD-free. Twenty-three diabetic men and 608 non-diabetic men died during the follow-up. A hypertensive group (systolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 160 and diastolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 95 mmHg or drug treatment) and a normotensive group were formed on the basis of initial data. In comparison to normotensive non-diabetics the age-adjusted relative risk of death was 1.93 in hypertensive non-diabetics and 2.99 in hypertensive diabetics. Corresponding relative risks for CVD death were 2.62 and 4.69. A comparison of hypertensive non-diabetics to normotensive non-diabetics and hypertensive diabetics to normotensive diabetics suggested that hypertension has at least the same strength as a risk factor for CVD death in diabetics as in non-diabetics.