Peer-review started: November 10, 2014
First decision: November 27, 2014
Revised: December 9, 2014
Accepted: December 18, 2014
Article in press: December 19, 2014
Published online: February 23, 2015
Processing time: 95 Days and 4.2 Hours
Association of diabetes with hypertension is frequent and it well known that high blood pressure potentiates the probability of diabetic patients to develop macrovascular and microvascular complications. Strong evidence obtained in a number of large scale prospective studies indicates that adequate blood pressure control in diabetic patients is highly beneficial for prevention of cardiovascular events. Nonetheless, only a limited proportion of hypertensive-diabetic individuals included in studies on anti-hypertensive treatment has met the predefined blood pressure goal. The optimal blood pressure goal to be pursued in diabetic patients with hypertension to guarantee effective protection from cardiovascular outcomes is still under intense debate and recommendations of current guidelines on hypertension treatment are still inconsistent. We comment here on the most important studies and conclude that current evidence does not conclusively support the need to reach a blood pressure target in hypertensive patients with diabetes different from nondiabetic hypertensive individuals.
Core tip: Hypertension potentiates the probability of diabetic patients to develop macrovascular and microvascular complications and prospective studies demonstrate that adequate blood pressure control in diabetic patients is highly beneficial for prevention of cardiovascular events. Blood pressure targets in diabetic patients with high blood pressure are under debate and are discussed in this editorial.