An Evaluation of Glucose Tolerance in Essential Hypertension

PURPOSE This study aimed to determine the impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes prevalence in patients with essential hypertension (HT) and to compare the developed microvascular complications of these groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed on 338 essential hypertensive cases and glucose tolerances were classified according to ADA-2002 criteria. RESULTS Of the 338 cases, 32 people had diabetes (DM, 9.46%), 78 people had glucose intolerance (IGT, 23.1%), and 228 people had only hypertension but not IGT and DM (67.4%). Both the mean ages of the DM group (56.9 +/- 6.7 years, p = 0.002) and IGT group (56.3 +/- 8.4 years, p = 0.003) were older than the mean age of the control group (51.1 +/- 6.4 years). The risk of IGT development was found to be four times greater in male cases than female cases when compared to the control group (p = 0.004, add ratio = 4.194). There were no significant differences in the body mass indexes (BMI's), hypertension durations, and microvascular complications between the groups. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the risk of IGT and DM development in hypertensive cases increases with aging and longer hypertension duration. The risk of IGT development in hypertensive cases is four times more in males.