Abstract
Aim: To find out prevalence of hypertension in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus at a tertiary care hospital in Bahawalpur Pakistan.
Material & methods: The present retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at department of Medicine, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur Pakistan. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus was defined as patients with HbA1c of greater than 7.0%, or two blood glucose random readings of ≥200mg/dl, or previous history of diabetes diagnosis, or taking anti-hyperglycemic medicines. Hypertension was defined as elevated blood pressure exceeding 130/85 mm of Hg on >2 different occasions or ambulatory blood pressure of greater than 130/85 mm of Hg at least 15 days apart, currently or on past history, or taking anti-hypertensive medicines. Patients with ischemic heart disease, end-stage kidney disease and chronic liver disease; patients with thyroid dysfunction; patients taking steroids for any cause; and pregnant women were excluded from the study. Retrospective data of 222 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were included in the study using non-probability consecutive sampling technique from February 2024 to April 2024. Demographic information including age, gender and duration of diabetes were noted and the patient’s records were assessed for diabetes control, HbA1c levels and presence/absence of retinopathy, nephropathy and hypertension. All the data was recorded and entered into SPSS version 23 for analysis.
Results: Mean age was 52.7+12.1 years with 127 (53.2%) females. Mean duration of disease and mean HbA1c were 6.9+5.5 years and 9.8+2.6% respectively with 169 (76.1%) having poor diabetes control. Diabetic retinopathy was reported in 51 (23.0%) and nephropathy in 21 (9.5%). Hypertension was seen in 110 (49.5%) patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus having a significant statistical association with age (p-value <0.001), gender (p-value 0.006), duration of diabetes mellitus (p-value 0.043), and nephropathy (p-value 0.035) but not with diabetes control (p-value 0.180) and retinopathy (p-value 0.131).
Conclusion: Hypertension was present in almost half of the diabetic population being significantly associated with increasing age, female gender, prolonged duration of diabetes mellitus and presence of nephropathy.

Key words: Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Nephropathy, Retinopathy, HbA1c.