By IANS,
Sydney : Joint control of blood pressure and blood glucose can cut down serious kidney complications by a third among patients with type 2 diabetes, says the findings of new research based on a study of 11,140 patients who were treated and followed for five years.
Diabetes mellitus, one of the greatest health threats, affect over 250 million people worldwide – a number estimated to rise to around 400 million by 2025.
Chief investigator John Chalmers of the George Institute for International Health, Australia, said: “The combination of routine blood pressure (BP) lowering and tighter glucose control confers very substantial benefits with reductions of one third for serious kidney disease, one quarter for cardiovascular death and close to one fifth for death from any cause.”
Previous findings showed that tight control of blood glucose with a regimen based on modified release of gliclazide, an oral anti-diabetic drug, reduced kidney complications.
Routine lowering of BP with the fixed combination of two drugs (perindopril and indapamide) cut down risk of death, as well as the risks of heart and kidney disease.
“These results provide powerful incentives for the millions of people living with type 2 diabetes,” Chalmers added.
The results were presented Monday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) conference in Rome.