This study, published in the BMC Endocrine Disorders journal, explores the intersection between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension, and the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk posed by the same. 

A cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted in the Endocrinology clinic, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. It consisted of 190 adults with T2DM (over 40 years), 125 of whom had co-morbid hypertension. Data for various parameters like demographics, medical history, BP, BMI, lab tests (glucose, HbA1c, lipid profile, hsCRP), etc, were collected. Thresholds for the biomarkers HbA1c, hsCRP, and AIP were defined. 

The target outcome was the CVD risk, which was calculated using the WHO 10-year CVD risk chart. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine if the selected biomarkers predicted CVD risk.

The hypertension subgroup participants were older, had longer diabetes duration, higher hsCRP, lower HDL-C, higher AIP, and higher CVD risk scores than non-hypertensive patients. 60% of hypertensives fell into moderate-to-high risk. Only the duration of diabetes significantly predicted higher CVD risk. HbA1c, hsCRP, and AIP did not independently predict CVD risk in the adjusted regression model.

Notably, even though hsCRP and AIP were higher in hypertensive patients, they didn’t independently predict CVD risk when adjusted for other factors. This can be attributed to the fact that hsCRP is variable and non-specific in chronic disease, HbA1c had reduced predictive power as the entire cohort had poor glycemic burden, and AIP doesn’t capture the full complexity of lipid changes in hypertensive diabetics.

Since the selected biomarkers were not strong biomarkers of CVD in such patients, only clinical management can be effective in controlling the CVD risk.