What is the relationship between BP and risk of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes and CKD?
Observational studies in the general population provide strong evidence of a linear relationship between BP and risk of cardiovascular events.21 A large number of RCTs have also shown that drugs that reduce BP also reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events.198 Diabetes increases the risk of CVD by a factor of two to three at every level of systolic BP,201 and this risk is further potentiated by the presence of CKD. In addition, the risk of incident and progressive microalbuminuria is highly associated with BP levels.204 Progression of retinopathy is also closely associated with high BP.205 208