Beta-Blockers

Beta-blockers and diuretics—both designed to lower blood pressure—can increase the risk of diabetes, accord-ing to a new study.

In contrast, two other types of antihypertensives—the ACE inhibitors and the angiotensin-receptor blockers —can reduce the risk of diabetes.

It’s been suspected for nearly 50 years that antihypertensive drugs provoke diabetes because they lower a patient’s glucose tolerance levels. But a definitive statement has been hard to come by as many patients with raised blood pressure are simply more likely to develop diabetes in any event.

Researchers from Rush Medical College in Chicago arrived at these conclusions after reexamining 22 clinical trials involving more than 143,000 patients who did not have diabetes when they started taking an antihypertensive to control their blood pressure (Lancet, 2007; 36

Beta-Blockers

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