European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) frequently coexist and share common pathophysiological pathways, together contributing substantially to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The dual burden is rising rapidly in India due to urbanization, sedentary lifestyle, and dietary transition. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of hypertension among patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and to determine the socio-demographic, behavioural, and clinical factors associated with it.Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 diagnosed Type 2 diabetic patients attending the Medicine and Diabetic Outpatient Department of a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of twelve months. A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic profile, duration of diabetes, physical activity, dietary habits, family history, and anthropometric and biochemical parameters. Blood pressure was measured as per standard WHO STEPS protocol and hypertension was defined as per JNC-7 criteria. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21.0; Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were applied, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant.Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension among the study participants was 54.3%. Hypertension was significantly associated with age above 50 years (p<0.001), duration of diabetes more than 5 years (p=0.002), general/central obesity (p<0.001), family history of hypertension (p=0.01), physical inactivity (p=0.004), poor glycaemic control (HbA1c >7%) (p=0.001), and dyslipidaemia (p=0.03). On multivariate analysis, duration of diabetes >5 years, obesity, and poor glycaemic control emerged as independent predictors of hypertension.Conclusion: More than half of the Type 2 diabetic patients in this study had co-existing hypertension. Modifiable factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, and poor glycaemic control were significantly associated with hypertension, emphasizing the need for integrated screening and lifestyle intervention programmes for diabetic patients attending outpatient clinics