People with diabetes who took diuretics and alpha blockers had a higher risk for worsening frailty compared with those who didn’t take those medications. The risk for developing frailty was slightly lower for people who took beta blockers, a new study finds.
The report was published Monday in NPJ Aging.
Experts already know that people with Type 2 diabetes are at risk for developing frailty. It’s a bidirectional relationship, as mild frailty also increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, the study authors noted. Some previous research has shown that the risk of frailty also goes up in people who are older, female, have a lower body mass index or a cardiac disorder. The team wanted to know if blood pressure medications had a role in frailty and, if so, to what extent.
Researchers evaluated data from 41,440 adults with Type 2 diabetes with an average age of about 64. The researchers noted that 62.6% of them had hypertension, 45.6% experienced high cholesterol and 24.6% had prior acute coronary syndrome. All of the data came from adults in the database of the National Taiwan University Hospital.
Frailty worsened in 27.4% of the patients with diabetes after a follow-up period that was just over four years.
Those on diuretics had a 6% higher risk for worsening frailty, and those taking alpha blockers had a 8% higher risk compared with people who didn’t take those drugs. The risk went down by 8% in people who took beta blockers. The relationship between the drugs and frailty was independent of age, sex, comorbidities, other medications, glycemic control, nutritional status, and renal function, the data showed.
“It would be therefore prudent to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of using specific blood pressure-lowering agent classes,” the authors wrote.
The news comes after a recent study found that deprescribing antihypertensive medications could reduce cognitive decline in nursing home residents, particularly those with dementia.
