Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The thiazolidinediones are new and potentially useful developments in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. We tested the effects of the thiazolidinedione, rosiglitazone on blood pressure in normotensive type 2 diabetes.

Methods: After receiving approval from the local ethics committee, 25 normotensive diabetic patients were were enrolled to the study. Before the rosiglitazone treatment we measured plasma glucose, HbA1c, Hb, lipid profile and BMI. Also each subject underwent ambulatury blood pressure recording. Subjects were then placed on rosiglitazone treatment (8 mg per day) for twelve weeks, and baseline tests were repeated.

Results: At the end of twelve weeks there were significant decreases in total average diastolic blood pressure (67.02±8.06 vs 62.58±5.90, P<.009) and daytime average diastolic blood pressure (68.64±8.51 vs 65.12±6.34, P<.01). In addition, there were also significant decreases in fasting plasma glucose (P=.007), postprandial plasma glucose (P=.01), HbA1c (P=.010), and Hb levels (P=.005). Correlation analysis revealed that changes in diastolic blood pressures were not correlated with the decrease in both Hb, HbA1c. Also there was no significant correlation between the improvement in fasting and postprandial blood glucose and the decline in blood pressure.

Conclusion: Our study demonstrated a significant and sustained reduction in diastolic blood pressure with rosiglitazone therapy for 12 weeks, which was independent from the blood-glucose–lowering effect of the drug. Long-term studies are needed to determine the TZD-associated effects on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors.