Arterial hypertension in diabetic patients. Role of obesity

In order to assess the role of obesity and to correlate it with other possible factors which cause the well-known higher prevalence of arterial hypertension in diabetic patients without nephropathy, 829 non-proteinuric diabetic outpatients and 856 controls have been investigated. A significantly higher prevalence of arterial hypertension was found in obese patients than in normal-weight subjects. Likewise, hypertensive diabetic patients were more frequently obese than those with normal blood pressure. Arterial hypertension was more often encountered in female diabetics, since women were more obese. The duration of diabetes and age-related increase of arterial hypertension was augmented by the presence of obesity. The practical implications of the observations are emphasized.