Risk factors of previously undiagnosed and known untreated hypertension among patients with Type-2 diabetes mellitus

Objectives: To find the risk factors of previously undiagnosed and known untreated hypertension among patients with Type- 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: The cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at Diabetes Clinic of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore during Oct–Dec 2021. Total 153 known diabetics were enrolled using convenience sampling. Patients (n=24) with ischemic heart disease, hepatitis or missing information excluded. Data from 129 cases of Type-2 diabetes presenting with and without hypertension analyzed using SPSS. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate the adjusted odds ratios.

Results: Mean age of all diabetics (n=129) was 49.0±10.7 years. The participation of females was higher than males (65.1% vs. 34.9%). The frequency of hypertension, previously undiagnosed hypertension and known untreated hypertension was 58.1%, 25.3% and 19.6%, respectively. Among risk factors, frequency of high intake of salt was 67.4%, sedentary lifestyle was 65.1%, obesity was 37.2%, and poor glycemic control was 58.9%. Young age [aOR=2.01, 95.0% CI 0.53–7.61], low family income <20000 PKR/month [aOR=2.70, 95.0% CI 0.92–7.96], high intake of salt [aOR=3.22, 95.0% CI 0.98–10.61], elevated total cholesterol [aOR=3.68, 95.0% CI 0.85–15.85], poor glycemic control [aOR=3.28, 95.0% CI 0.51–21.13], and overweight/ obesity [aOR=9.07, 95.0% CI 1.6–51.39] had higher risk of previously undiagnosed or known untreated HTN.

Conclusions: Prevalence of previously undiagnosed and known untreated hypertension is high among Type-2 diabetics. Strict compliance to diabetes care guidelines is much needed to minimize the risk of undiagnosed and untreated hypertension.