Treatment and control of hypercholesterolemia and hypertension in persons with and without diabetes

Our object was to examine whether the frequency of medical treatment for hypercholesterolemia or hypertension and the frequency of control of these conditions were different in persons with and without known diabetes. Subjects 43-86 years of age with (n = 376) and without (n = 4,420) known diabetes participated in the Beaver Dam Eye Study. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as a serum cholesterol of > or = 6.2 mmol/L or use of lipid-lowering agents, and hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medications. Those subjects with diabetes had a similar frequency of hypercholesterolemia (42.8% versus 43.3%, P = .22) and a significantly higher frequency of hypertension (73.1% versus 48.3%, P < .0001) than those without diabetes. In those who were hypercholesterolemic, subjects with diabetes were slightly more likely to use lipid-lowering agents than those without diabetes (14.6% versus 9.8%, P = .05). In those who were hypertensive, subjects with diabetes were more likely to be on antihypertensive medications than those without diabetes (77.4% versus 57.0%, P < .0001). After adjusting for sociodemographic and cardiovascular disease risk factors, the odds of a participant with hypercholesterolemia receiving treatment with lipid-lowering agents was 1.61 (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.98, 2.65) and the odds of a participant with hypertension receiving treatment with antihypertensive medications was 2.32 (95% CI = 1.68, 3.20) for those with diabetes versus those without.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)