Effect of metformin on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in normotensive type 2 diabetic subjects

Abstract EN

Purpose: the class of antidiabetic drugs metformin possesses as its main feature, the ability to improve insulin sensitivity.

As the relation of insulin resistance, diabetes, and hypertension is complex and interrelated, a direct correlation between plasma insulin levels and blood pressure exists.

Diabetes and hypertension share common back ground in insulin resistance so the aim of this study was to evaluate if metformin may exert antihypertensive properties. Patients and Methods: thirty normotensive type 2 diabetic patients selected for the study were free from complications and / or other diseases.

They were on oral hypoglycemic drugs.

All anthropometric measures (weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference and waist / hip ratio), fasting plasma glucose, fasting serum insulin, calculation of insulin resistance IRS, Twenty-four hour blood pressure (24-h BP) measurements were recorded and monitored before and after four week of metformin therapy.

Results: after 4 weeks of treatment with metformin we observed a highly significant improvement of metabolic parameters (reduction of HOMA index and IRS, fasting blood glucose, fasting serum insulin ), a highly significant decrease in all anthropometric measures; a highly significant reduction of systolic and diastolic BP values both during the day and night and variations in the HOMA index were positively related to the reduction of diurnal and nocturnal BP.

HOMA index versus diurnal MAP BP (P < 0.05; r = 0.38); versus Asleep MAP (P < 0.01; r = 0.44).