Diabetes and High Blood Pressure

Diabetes and high blood pressure are bad for each other. Having poorly controlled diabetes increases the risk of high blood pressure, and having high blood pressure increases the risk of diabetes. Additionally having high blood pressure can worsen diabetic complications such as kidney and eye disease.

 - Having diabetes makes a person twice as likely to get high blood pressure as a person who does not have diabetes. -

How does diabetes increase the risk of high blood pressure?

There are two main ways in which diabetes contributes to high blood pressure. Both of which result in the inside of blood vessels becoming narrower and losing flexibility.

When diabetes is either uncontrolled or poorly controlled, levels of blood glucose are increased in the blood stream. Glucose (and other sugars) will randomly attach to proteins and lipids (fats). This process is known as glycation. The body has mechanisms to undo glycation, but when glucose is continually high, the pace of glycation rapidly outstrips these mechanisms.

Continual high glucose levels damage blood vessels

When glucose levels are high, by the process of glycation, glucose will start to attach to proteins and the lipids of the membranes of the cells lining blood vessels. Over a period of time the high glucose causes damage to this layer of cells.

This damage causes the walls of the blood vessels to become thicker, and seems to make the blood vessels less able to expand and get wider. The reduction in the ability to expand means that the body cannot effectively use changes in the size of blood vessels to help regulate blood pressure. The narrowed blood vessels result in continual higher blood pressure.

Continual high glucose levels increase the rate of atherosclerosis (blockage of the arteries)

Poorly controlled diabetes will cause atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). High glucose, via glycation of certain proteins and lipids, like high cholesterol will cause atherosclerosis, as well as increasing the rate of atherosclerosis caused by high cholesterol. See high cholesterol and blood pressure. As blood vessels become narrower and stiffer, they are less able to widen (relax); which in addition to the partially blocking and restricted blood flow, results in increased blood pressure.