A LEADING Nicosia cardiologist has echoed findings by British researchers linking one of the most common treatments for high blood pressure to the onset of diabetes.
A Report by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) this week revealed the combination of thiazide diuretics and a beta-blocker – as given to millions of high blood pressure patients – carries a 20 per cent higher risk of developing diabetes than other treatment.
According to one of the researchers, Professor James Mason, the “small but significant risk” of diabetes had only emerged because the study had pooled data from more than 70,000 patients.
“This doesn’t surprise me at all,” Dr Pambis Nicolaides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “People who have a predisposition to high sugar levels run the risk of increasing their sugar levels by taking diuretics.”
He explained that although diuretics were “a good medication”, one of their contraindications was the possibility of raising sugar levels in people with borderline sugar levels.
“This is why I prefer not to prescribe diuretics to diabetics,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
“My tactic, if a patient has a predisposition to diabetes, is that I prefer to treat him or her with different medication. There is such a range of drugs on the market today that it is not necessary to use the combination of a diuretic and beta blocker,” he said.
According to the NICE report, the two drugs should only be taken together where absolutely necessary, although for some patients, including those who suffer bad reactions to other drugs, the benefits of the treatment still outweigh the risks.
Thiazide diuretics are a family of drugs that remove water from the body and are used to lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure. They are referred to as potassium-depleting because they cause the body to lose potassium as well as water.
Beta-blockers are used to treat high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms and chest pain. They are sometimes used in heart attack patients to prevent future heart attacks. Beta-blockers “block” the effects of adrenaline on your body’s beta receptors. This slows the nerve impulses that travel through the heart. As a result, the heart does not have to work as hard because it needs less blood and oxygen. Beta-blockers also block the impulses that can cause an arrhythmia.
