BACKGROUND Arterial hypertension, in particular systolic hypertension, is a common component of the metabolic syndrome, a syndrome of hypertension, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance and increased urinary albumin excretion sustained by decreased tissue sensitivity to insulin (insulin resistance). It affects 80 to 90% of people with type 2 diabetes and is the strongest risk factor for macrovascular and microvascular complications of diabetes, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, peripheral artery disease, nephropathy and retinopathy. Despite multi-drug therapy, reduction of systolic blood pressure to normal range is seldom achievable in people with type 2 diabetes. Moreover, due to increased vascular stiffness, reducing systolic blood pressure may decrease diastolic blood pressure to the extent that diastolic myocardial perfusion is impaired and the risk of ischemic event increased. Thus, availability of drugs that may help controlling systolic hypertension without appreciably affecting diastolic blood pressure would have major clinical implications.