Blood pressure and diabetes

In medicine, the term diabetes mellitus covers a group of metabolic diseases that share one feature: elevated blood sugar levels or detectable sugar in the urine. In many cases, reduced or absent insulin production is the cause of the high blood sugar. A typical example is type 1 diabetes, where the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas have been destroyed by autoimmune reactions. In people with type 2 diabetes, (at least early in the disease) insulin production can still be adequate. However, for various reasons the biological activity of the insulin is reduced. As a result, the pancreas produces more insulin to compensate, and over time this overload causes it to lose its ability to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. It is often accompanied by excess weight.

Damage from high blood sugar

Long-term high blood sugar levels have a fundamentally negative effect on a number of organs. At high concentrations, glucose tends to bind to tissue proteins (glycation or glucation). This can happen, for example, in the retina of the eye, which in advanced stages can lead to blindness. Nerve pathways can also be affected, which is why people with diabetes often have reduced sensation in their feet and hands in later stages. Together with high insulin levels, the raised blood sugar damages the inner lining of the arterial blood vessels and thereby causes the arteries to harden atherosclerosis. For the heart and its coronary vessels, this means an increased risk of heart attack. Wounds on the feet and legs heal poorly or not at all (risk of open ulcers).

Kidneys, blood pressure and diabetes

One organ that is particularly affected by diabetes is the kidney, whose job is to filter the blood. In diabetes, glycation of kidney tissue occurs especially in the filtration apparatus (the glomeruli) which permanently impairs kidney function. But the kidney does more than just clean the blood. It plays a major role in regulating blood pressure. If diabetes-related damage occurs in the kidney, which usually reduces filtration performance, the kidney interprets this as a need to raise blood pressure to improve kidney blood flow and thus the filtration rate. This lays the first foundation for high blood pressure. If this condition remains untreated, glycation increases and the damage leads to a further rise in blood pressure. Even without diabetes, prolonged hypertension damages the kidneys. Together with diabetes, both factors act jointly to destroy the glomeruli over time.

This combination of destructive factors can, in extreme cases, lead to total kidney failure and make dialysis or a transplant necessary.

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This article comes from BloodPressureDB – the leading app since 2011 that helps hundreds of thousands monitor their blood pressure every day. Our content is based on carefully researched, evidence-based data and is continuously updated (as of 04/2024).

Author Sabine Croci is a qualified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care, and has led BloodPressureDB's specialist editorial team since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder and in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides solid, practical and reliably reviewed information.

Blood pressure and diabetes

Damage from high blood sugar

Kidneys, blood pressure and diabetes

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