Diabetics get a raw deal on blood pressure treatments.
New research shows that diabetics with high BP have only a fifty percent chance that their doctors will change their medications when they need to or will give them other related treatment
Diabetic patients have a higher risk for heart attack, stroke and can develop kidney problems. Treating hypertension in people with diabetes is very important, because lowering the levels can reduce the risk of these complications.
The recent research project tried to understand when doctors would respond to high readings, by changing the patient’s medication or by following the patient more closely.
The study showed that family doctors only change treatment about 50 percent of the time and other previous studies showed that the situation was sometimes even worse than that.
You can find the full study reported in the May 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine
More than a thousand people with diabetes were assessed during a one-year period. At the start of the study, all patients had high numbers, which is defined as 140/90 mm Hg or higher. The goal for people with diabetes is 130/80 mm Hg.
The results showed that about fifty percent of patients had their drug treatment changed during a clinic visit. The change consisted of either a new medication, a change in dose of a current medication, or a plan to follow up within a month.
The lead research doctor found that many doctors in the study only took one reading during a patient’s visit. In some cases, when more than one reading was taken, the results weren’t compared.
Also, many doctors didn’t take into consideration home blood pressure measurements reported by the patients.
Many experts in heart problems and diabetes think doctors need to be more aggressive in treating blood pressure.
One leading professor thinks doctors should intensify treatment every time blood pressure is high. Blood pressure should be the first thing doctors look at during a patient’s visit, and it should be treated before moving on to other problems.
Patients can play a role, too – patients should ask their doctor: What is my BP goal? Am I at goal? If I am not, what should we do about it?
More attention is needed in this very important medical field.
Gordon Cameron is a physician in Edinburgh Scotland. He has a special interest in blood pressure treatment and also in natural remedies for high blood pressure problems
