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Arterial hypertension: diuretics as a front-line treatment for diabetics too

The treatment of arterial hypertension with diuretic drugs improves hypertensive patients' overall cardiovascular prognosis, in diabetics as with others.

A number of large-scale clinical trials (involving several tens of thousands of patients) have shown that the best front-line treatment for hypertensive patients are thiazide diuretics (notably chlortalidone and hydrochlorothiazide), whatever other risk factors the patient may present. Diuretics have also been shown to be superior in treating diabetics, even if they sometimes lead to increased glycaemia. New trial results show once again that there was a significantly lower cardiovascular death rate and overall death rate in hypertensive, diabetic patients treated with diuretics (compared with placebo).

©Prescrire September 2005

Source: “HTA : diurétique en première ligne, même chez les diabétiques“ Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (264) : 615.

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