Improving the prognosis of diabetic patients: Evaluating the role of intensive versus moderate blood pressure control with selective angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) therapy

The ABCD (Appropriate Blood Pressure Control in Diabetes) and ABCD-2V (Part 2 with Valsartan) are prospective, randomised clinical trials which will provide important data on the impact of intensive vs. moderate blood pressure (BP) control on microvascular and macrovascular complications in normotensive and hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The ABCD trial was a five-year study that compared the effects of intensive vs. moderate BP control on the endpoints of nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and cardiovascular disease events using a calcium channel blocker (CCB) and an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor as the primary antihypertensive agents. The recently published results of the hypertensive cohort of ABCD are reviewed herein. The follow-up study, ABCD-2V, is ongoing and was designed to compare intensive vs. moderate BP control on the same endpoints as the ABCD study, using the highly selective angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) valsartan as the primary antihypertensive agent. First results of ABCD-2V are expected in 2004. The baseline characteristics for the patients enrolled thus far in the hypertensive cohort of ABCD-2V are reviewed. These studies will provide insight into the role of intensive vs. moderate BP control in the management of normotensive and hypertensive patients with type 2 DM.