Management of hypertension in patients with diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the management of hypertension in patients with diabetes mellitus, living in a rural setting. METHOD A community health screening clinic was conducted at Charles Sturt University, Albury-Wodonga, in rural southeastern Australia. Patients with either diagnosed hypertension or high blood pressure who attended the clinic were eligible for inclusion in the present study. The awareness and control of hypertension was compared between patients with and without diabetes mellitus. RESULTS A total of 449 patients with hypertension were analyzed. One hundred twenty-one (26.9%) had hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and 328 (73.1%) had hypertension without diabetes mellitus. Hypertension awareness (61.2% versus 36.9%, P=0.014) and control (17.4% versus 7.0%, P=0.040) were significantly better in the hypertensive patients with diabetes mellitus than in the hypertensive patients without diabetes mellitus. Antihypertensive medication use was also significantly higher in patients with diabetes mellitus than in patients without diabetes mellitus (one antihypertensive medication, 41.3% versus 25.0%, P=0.045). CONCLUSION Awareness and control of hypertension were suboptimal in the patients in the present study. Diabetes mellitus, however, was associated with both higher awareness and better control of hypertension than having hypertension alone. This may be partially due to a higher use of antihypertensive medications by patients with diabetes mellitus.