Objective: To study the effect of hypertension on lipid levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Methods: This prospective, observational study was conducted at 1 Mountain Medical Battalion, Bagh, Azad Kashmir, from May 2012 to April 2015, and comprised adult type 2 diabetics. Patients already on lipid-lowering agents, hypothyroidism, nephrotic syndrome, unwilling patients and those who had serum triglycerides>4.5mmol/l were excluded. Blood pressure was measured twice in sitting position. Amongst hypertensive patients, blood pressure <140/90mmHg reflected good control. Serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and high-density lipoproteins were measured using enzymatic calorimetric method. Friedewald equation was used to calculate low-density lipoprotein levels.Subjects were divided into three groups: those without hypertension; those with hypertension but good blood pressure control; and hypertensives with poor blood pressure control. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis.
Results: Of the 322 patients, 129(40.06%) were women and 193(59.94%) were men. The overall mean age was 51.42±10.93 years. Hypertension was seen in 144(44.72%) patients. Blood pressure was well controlled in 46(31.94%) hypertensive patients. Among patients without hypertension and those with good or poorly controlled blood pressure, the mean values for serum total cholesterol were 181.08± 32.05, 186.87± 39.00, 185.33± 35.55 mg/dl, triglycerides were 172.57±80.53, 187.61±81.42, 183.19±74.34 mg/dl, high-density lipoproteins were 40.54±12.36, 37.06±8.80, 40.15±12.35 mg/dl and low-density lipoproteins were 105.79±29.73, 110.81±31.66, 106.56±35.16 mg/dl. The number of patients with abnormalities of total cholesterol was 44(26.83%), 13(28.26%), 33(29.46%), triglycerides was 83(50.61%), 30(65.22%), 66(58.93%), high-density lipoproteins was 119(72.56%), 39(84.78%), 93(83.04%) and low-density lipoproteins was 90(54.88%), 29(63.04%) and 59(52.68%), respectively.
Conclusions: Hypertension did not worsen diabetic dyslipidaemia.
Keywords: Dyslipidaemia, Metabolic syndrome X, Risk factors, Pakistan..