Wed. Nov 15, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that hypertension can be more dangerous than diabetes mellitus and more cases of death from all causes and cardiovascular disease are attributed to hypertension than diabetes mellitus.
For the study, all community-dwelling Rancho Bernardo Study white adults aged 55 years or older had blood pressure and plasma glucose measured at the baseline. And all patients were followed up for an average of 14.3 years or until death.
The study finds that people with diabetes mellitus were 40% more likely to die from all causes and 67% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease. In comparison, people with hypertension were 93% more likely to die from all causes and 145% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease.
After the adjustment for other cardiovascular risk factors including age, body mass index, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, smoking, physical exercise, and alcohol drinking, diabetes mellitus was associated only with 25% elevated mortality from cardiovascular disease. Hypertension, on the other hand, was associated both with 34% increased risk of death from all causes and 40% elevated risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
Patients with both diabetes mellitus and hypertension were 38% more likely to die from all causes and 70% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, compared to those who did not have these health conditions.
The study concludes that hypertension "is more strongly associated with all-cause and CVD mortality than diabetes mellitus."
Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are two major risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. and many other countries. (David Liu)
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