If you have symptoms associated with diabetes or hypertension, your doctor is also probably keeping an eye on your heartdiabetes and hypertension are both known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But what if you have no symptoms of either? It turns out you may still be at an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease.
Three separate studies presented at a meeting of the American Society of Hypertension showed that many people who are prehypertensive or prediabetic, have a greater likelihood of heart trouble. Prehypertension is slightly elevated blood pressure. Prediabetes occurs when a persons blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not in the diabetic range.
One of the three studies presented, conducted by researchers at the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center at the University of Minnesota, found that people who had prediabetes but were asymptomatic, were found to have early manifestations of cardiovascular disease. Another study, this one from the University of California, San Diego, found that prehypertensive patients also had early signs that put them at risk of cardiovascular disease.
In the third study, one in three apparently healthy adults were found to have prehypertension and one in four had diabetes. We would like to propose that prehypertension (blood pressure above120/80 mm Hg) and prediabetes (blood sugar of more than 100 mg/dL) occurring together, should be a red flag for urgent further evaluation, says lead author, Alok K. Gupta, M.D., assistant professor with Clinical Research, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge. Resting blood pressure and spot finger stick sugar tests are obtained for every patient who visits a doctor?s office. This early recognition and subsequent intervention with lifestyle measures may prevent high blood pressure and diabetes from occurring later in lifereducing risk in otherwise healthy adults.
