Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Hypertension
Volume 2013, Article ID 565263, 8 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/565263
Research Article
Prevalence, Awareness, and Treatment of
Hypertension in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes:
A Nationwide Multicenter Study in Brazil
Marilia B. Gomes,
1
Lucianne Righeti Monteiro Tannus,
1
Alessandra Saldanha de Mattos
Matheus,
1
Roberta Arnoldi Cobas,
1
Catia C. Sousa Palma,
1
Aline Tiemi Kano Silva,
1
Carlos
Antonio Negrato,
2
Sergio Atala Dib,
3
Melanie Rodacki,
4
João Soares Felício,
5
and Luis Henrique Canani
6
1
Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, 20551-030 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2
Bauru’s Diabetics Association, 17010-130 Bauru, SP, Brazil
3
Diabetes Unit, Federal University of S˜ ao Paulo State, 04021-001 S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil
4
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 21941-901 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
5
Federal University Hospital Jo˜ ao Barreto, 66073-000 Bel´ em, PA, Brazil
6
Federal University Hospital of Porto Alegre, 90035-903 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Correspondence should be addressed to Marilia B. Gomes; mariliabgomes@gmail.com
Received 13 November 2012; Accepted 24 January 2013
Academic Editor: Mario Fritsch Neves
Copyright © 2013 Marilia B. Gomes et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Objective. his study evaluated the prevalence, awareness, and type of treatment for hypertension in Brazil in patients with type 1
diabetes (T1D). Methods. his was a cross-sectional, multicenter study that was conducted from December 2008 to December 2010
in 28 public clinics located in 20 Brazilian cities. Results. A total of 3,591 patients were studied, 56% female, average age 21.2 ± 11.7
years, with a median duration of diabetes 9.6 ± 8.1 years. Blood pressure levels were available for a total of 3,323 patients and
689 (19.2%) patients were hypertensive. Hypertensive patients were older, exhibited longer duration of diabetes, and had higher
body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-C values ( < 0.001, for all comparisons), but only 370 (53.7%)
received treatment. Patient awareness of hypertension was documented in 453 (65.5%) patients. However, only 76 (22.9%) of the
treated patients attained the target systolic (sBP) and diastolic blood pressures (dBP). Conclusions. Our results demonstrate that a
large number of T1D patients with hypertension do not receive appropriate treatment; few of the treated T1D patients achieved the
target sBP and dBP values. Greater attention should be paid to blood pressure evaluation, hypertension diagnosis, and treatment
of T1D patients in Brazil.
1. Introduction
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is a chronic disease that carries
a great risk of morbidity and mortality, as a result of the
microvascular and macrovascular complications that reduce
an afected individual’s quality of life and life expectancy
[1]. Progress in diabetes management in recent decades has
improved the survival rates among T1D patients, although life
expectancy remains lower for these individuals compared to
nondiabetic subjects of equal age [2].
Diabetes has emerged as a major health problem in
societies in which noncommunicable diseases are the most
common causes of disability and death [1, 2]. Furthermore,
diabetes treatment has become a large inancial burden
because of the increased associated direct and indirect costs
[3].