Hazards of elevated blood pressure in diabetes

If you have diabetes, it is important that you maintain healthy blood pressure. Combined with diabetes, elevated blood pressure increases the risk of kidney disease, diabetic retinopathy, stroke, coronary heart disease and heart failure. If your blood pressure is permanently elevated, your heart has to work harder. It also puts a strain on the rest of the circulatory system. With the heart having to work harder, the left ventricle of the heart is overworked and thickens. It can be diagnosed on the basis of a electrocardiogram (ECG) or a heart ultrasound scan. In a person with diabetes, even slightly elevated blood pressure may cause damage to the kidneys and increase changes in the back of the eyes (diabetic retinopathy). Other arterial disease risk factors contribute to the onset of impediments arising from elevated blood pressure. In addition to elevated blood sugar, they include smoking and lipid metabolism disorders.