Association of pulse pressure with all‐cause mortality in older Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A observational cohort study

Although systolic and diastolic blood pressures as well as blood glucose are monitored when nurses care for patients with type 2 diabetes, the same is not true for pulse pressure. We aimed to determine the association between pulse pressure and all-cause mortality.We conducted a longitudinal study of outpatients with type 2 diabetes aged 65 years and older at diabetes-specialized hospitals in Japan from September 2004 to December 2016. Descriptive data, blood pressure measurements, blood analysis data, and information on life and death were obtained from medical records. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the relative risks with 95% confidence intervals for all-cause mortality.We analyzed 357 of the 383 recruited patients (mean age, 74.9 years; 175 men and 182 women; average follow-up, 7.7 years), and 50 patients died. After adjusting for covariates, the relative risks for pulse pressures of 55 to65, 65 to75, and ≥75 mmHg (reference:55 mmHg) were 1.77 (95% confidence interval: [0.59, 5.28]), 2.66 (95% confidence interval: [0.93, 7.56]), and 3.23 (95% confidence interval: [1.16, 8.99]), respectively. The relative risk for the 65 mmHg or higher group (reference:65 mmHg) was 2.08 (95% confidence interval: [1.11, 3.92]). Neither systolic blood pressure nor diastolic blood pressure alone were significantly associated with mortality.In older patients with type 2 diabetes, a wide pulse pressure was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality. Nurses caring for older people with diabetes should also monitor pulse pressure.