Orthostatic blood pressure changes and diabetes duration.

UNLABELLED: To determine the prevalence and the associated clinical characteristics of orthostatic hypotension and orthostatic hypertension in patients with diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSP).

METHODS

A single-center retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 DSP patients who had 3-minute orthostatic measures as part of the standard clinic evaluation. We measured the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) supine and again after 3 min of standing.

RESULTS

The prevalence of orthostatic hypotension was 19.5% and that of orthostatic hypertension was 23%. Subjects with orthostatic hypotension had significantly longer diabetes duration than subjects who were normotensive and those with orthostatic hypertension. Quantitatively, BP changes from supine to standing correlated with diabetes duration (R = 0.306; P = 0.0582) and age (R = 0.434; P = 0.006) in subjects with orthostatic hypotension.

CONCLUSIONS

Orthostatic hypertension and orthostatic hypotension are frequent in patients with DSP. Orthostatic hypertension is associated with shorter diabetes duration than orthostatic hypotension.