Blood pressure meds may lower diabetes risk

Two types of blood pressure-lowering medicines - so called ACE inhibitors or closely related angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) - can lower the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a new analysis.

These two types of drugs work by regulating kidney hormones and are commonly used to treat patients with High Blood Pressure, Heart disease or heart failure.

"These two drug classes," said Dr. Craig I. Coleman, "have been known to slow the progression of kidney disease in patients with Diabetes. However, the finding of a diabetes preventive effect is new, and will likely have an impact on the drugs doctors choose for patients with high blood pressure."

Coleman, at of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and colleagues analyzed pooled data from six trials of ACE inhibitors and five of ARBs involving more than 66,000 patients.

Both agents led to a similar reduction - by 21 percent for ACE inhibitors and 24 percent for ARBs - in new-onset diabetes, the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

For patients "who might benefit similarly from any blood pressure-lowering drug, and particularly for patients who are at high risk for developing diabetes, our study demonstrates the use of either an ACE inhibitor or ARB makes sense," Coleman commented.

"You are getting two benefits in one," he concluded. "You are receiving a highly effective medication for your primary health problem (High Blood Pressure) and preventing the onset of a second deadly disease (diabetes)."

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, September 2005.