Abstract

BACKGROUND
Activation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been an important mechanism of microvascular and macrovascular complications in diabetic patients. It has been reported that RAS blockades reduce the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether valsartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), reduced blood pressure and urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) in hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients. METHOD: Three hundred forty-seven hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients who had not taken angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or ARB for 6 months prior to this study were enrolled. We measured blood pressure and UAER before and after 24 weeks of valsartan treatment. RESULT: Baseline mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 143 +/- 15 and 87 +/- 11 mmHg, respectively and the median albumin excretion rate was 27 ug/mg. Reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 16 mmHg/10 mmHg and the median UAER was 19.3 ug/mg after 24 weeks (P < 0.01, respectively). When we divided the subjects into three groups according to the UAER (normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria), significant changes were reported in the microalbuminuria and the macroalbuminuria groups. Thirty-eight (42%) patients with microalbuminuria improved to normoalbuminuria and twelve (41%) patients with macroalbuminuria improved to microalbuminuria. We found an association between the improvement of blood pressure and UAER (R = 0.165, P = 0.015). CONCLUSION: We concluded that valsartan reduces urinary albumin excretion and blood pressure in hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients.

• Keywords: Angiotensin;Blood pressure;Diabetes mellitus;Valsartan;