Diabetes and Hypertension: A Comparative Review of Current Guidelines

Cardiovascular disease plays a major role in the morbidity and mortality of patients with diabetes mellitus. In turn, hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and its prevalence is increased in diabetes mellitus. Therefore, the detection and management of elevated blood pressure (BP) is a critical component of the comprehensive clinical management of diabetics. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of hypertension, there continues to be debate regarding the pharmacologic treatment of hypertension, especially in high-risk groups such as in patients with diabetes mellitus with and without chronic kidney disease (CKD). This debate largely involves at what BP (ie, treatment threshold BP) to initiate pharmacologic antihypertensive therapy and subsequently what treatment target BP should be achieved (ie, goal BP). Presently, there are several guidelines that address hypertension in diabetes mellitus, including the recently released guideline from the Eighth Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC 8). Therefore, this review will compare and contrast these current guidelines, as they relate to the management and treatment of hypertension in diabetes mellitus. Since diabetes mellitus and CKD are significantly inter-related, the presence of CKD as it relates to patients with diabetes mellitus will also be addressed.