Background

Obesity, hypertension, and impaired glucose tolerance had long been found associated together , thus suggesting the possibility of a common pathogenetic mechanism. Furthermore, blood pressure was found to increase with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in young adult American blacks, and people with high blood pressure were reported to be nearly 60 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Aim

To investigate possible relationship between glucose tolerance (estimated by glucose challenge test) and blood pressure in Saudis adults.
Method

This is part of a larger cross sectional study conducted to study the association of various factors with IGT in the Non- diabetic Saudi adults (>18years). Volunteers were recruited from nine health centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the summer of 2016. Demographic data was collected by interview using a predesigned questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured, and glucose challenge test was carried out on all, with blood samples obtained while fasting, and 1 hour after drinking 50 g oral glucose. Glucose was measured in obtained samples. Subjects were then divided according to their results into groups: those with normal glucose tolerance with fasting glucose <5.6 mmol/l [100 mg/dl], 1 h glucose <7.8 mmol/ l [140 mg/dl]), impaired fasting glucose (IFG) with plasma glucose 5.6–6.9 (100–125 mg/dl) with 1 h glucose <7.8 (140 mg/dl), and IGT with 1 h glucose 7.8–11.1 mmol/ l (140–199 mg/dl) with fasting glucose ≤6.9 (125 mg/dl). Diabetes was suspected when fasting glucose was found to be ≥ 7 mmol/ l (125 mg/dl), and /0r one hour glucose of > 11.1 mmol/L. Hypertension was defined as DBP/SBP of > 140/90 mm Hg, or taking treatment. Characteristics of individuals with normal glucose tolerance, and those with IGT and/or IFG were compared, and multiple logistic regression with IGT as the dependent variable was used to evaluate the most significantly associated factors with glucose intolerance.
Results

After excluding individuals suspected to be diabetic, a total of 283 males, and 351females were included in the study. Glucose intolerance was found in 164 individuals (25.9% of total) with mean age ± SD of 37.5±12.98 , compared to 30.23±10.83 in those with normal glucose tolerance. Hypertension was detected in 87 subjects. Means of both DBP and SBP were significantly higher in the group with IGT (0.012, and 0.016 respectively). However, following multiple logistic regression analysis no significant association between IGT and hypertension was found.
Discussion

Even though hypertension is commonly found in diabetic individuals, it is not known whether it is a cause or a consequence of the metabolic dysregulation of diabetes. These preliminary findings support the suggestion of it being a consequence of diabetes. No firm conclusion can be reached before the full sample is collected, and more rigorous statistical analysis is carried out taking all confounding factors into account

The association between hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance in adult non-diabetic Saudis