Patients with Non-Insulin- Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

A 24-week study was conducted to evaluate the effects ofthe dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker nilvadipine on urinary albumin excretion in eight microalbuminuric hypertensive patients with non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetes mellitus. Blood pressure and urinary albumin excretion measurements before the administration of nilvadipine (8 mg) were compared with those after 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks of treatment. No significant changes were observed in the mean values of haemoglobin Alc ' Systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced from 174 ± 23 mmHg before treatment to 144 ± 13 mmHg after 24 weeks of treatment (P < 0.02). Diastolic blood pressure was signifi-cantly reduced from 93 ± 11 mmHg at baseline to 79 ± 8 mmHg after 24 weeks of treatment (P < 0.05). Urinary albu-min excretion was significantly reduced from 65.4 ± 37.4 mg/g creatinine at baseline to 51.6 ± 41.1 mg/g creatinine (P < 0.05) after 4 weeks, and to 39.1 ± 26.9 mg/g creatinine (P < 0.02) after 24 weeks of treatment. These data suggest 117 at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 5, 2016imr.sagepub.comDownloaded from that in hypertensive microalbuminuric patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, treatment of hyper-tension with the calcium blocker nilvadipine may slow the progression of diabetic nephropathy