Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with coexistent hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus: results from the largest retrospective emr study from india

Objective: Common end-organ manifestations of diabetes and hypertension predispose patients to develop cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The data on coexistent hypertension and diabetes mellitus (dual disease) in India is scarce. In patients with dual disease CVD risk is amplified, therefore necessitating better understanding of their current clinical characteristics and care gaps. Design and method: This was an EMR based, retrospective, multicenter, cross sectional, database study to evaluate the demographic and clinical profile of adult patients with age more than 18 years having coexistent Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes in India. Data of patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Familial Hypercholesterolemia and pregnant females were excluded Results: Data of 6722173 (6.7 million approx.) patients with age more than or equal to 18 years registered in EMR from January 2021 to December 2021 was extracted from the EMR database. Out of these patients, 279072 (4.15%) patients were found to have coexistent hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Mean age was noted to be 57.9 years and 52% of them were males. The mean BMI of the patients was 28.07 kg/m 2 , and 72% of patients had an above normal BMI (>24.99). The mean SBP and DBP in mmHg were noted to be 141.08 and 84.05, respectively. Only 9.3% and 22% of patients had a normal SBP and normal DBP, respectively. The mean HbA1c of the patients was 8.47% with only 27.7% of patients having HbA1C <7%. ARBs (16.2 %) and combination of anti-hypertensive with diuretics (10.9 %) were most used for hypertension. Biguanides and its combination with sulphonylureas were used in 53.5% and 32% of patients with diabetes, respectively. Conclusions: The findings suggests that control of dual disease in India is inadequate despite current therapy being offered, this puts patients at a higher risk for early-onset CVD. Hence, there is an urgent need to create awareness and optimize management of coexistent hypertension and diabetes.