Clarifying the link between high blood pressure, its medicines, and type 2 diabetes

The effect of blood pressure lowering drugs and drug-drug interactions on the risk of type 2 diabetes: integrating epidemiologic and genetic data (Mr Milad Nazarzadeh Larzjan)

Oxford researchers are using Big Data to understand the links between high blood pressure and diabetes. Millions of people in the UK are living with diabetes and/or high blood pressure, also called hypertension. These conditions raise people’s risk of heart disease - even more so if you have both. It’s not yet clear if one of these conditions can cause the other, or if medicines that lower blood pressure could affect the risk of diabetes. To establish whether hypertension causes diabetes, or vice versa, this research will delve into ‘biobanks’: databases of information about the biology, genetics and health of thousands of participating volunteers. They will analyse if people with genes that are linked to hypertension also have diabetes, and if people with genes linked with diabetes also have hypertension. The researchers will also access the largest ever collection of data from volunteers taking part in clinical trials involving blood pressure lowering medicines. They will investigate if certain blood pressure drugs, or particular drug combinations, raise or lower the risk of diabetes. This research will provide vital evidence about the links between two of the most common risk factors for heart disease. It will give doctors and public health professionals more insight into the relationship between diabetes and high blood pressure, and could change the way medication is used.