Beneficial effect of calcium channel blockers on home blood pressure variability in the morning in patients with type 2 diabetes

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have shown the association between blood pressure variability and cardiovascular events. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between antihypertensive drug class and home blood pressure variability in patients with type 2 diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared home blood pressure variability among patients treated with calcium channel blockers (n = 44), with angiotensin II receptor blockers and/or angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (n = 159), and with calcium channel blockers combined with angiotensin II receptor blockers and/or angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (n = 183). Next, we analyzed the effect of calcium channel blockers on morning blood pressure variability using multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Coefficient variation of morning systolic blood pressure in patients treated with calcium channel blockers was significantly lower than that in patients treated with angiotensin II receptor blockers and/or angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (P = 0.036). Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that treatment with calcium channel blockers was significantly correlated with coefficient variation of morning systolic blood pressure (β = −0.264, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The present study implies a possibility for validity on selecting calcium channel blockers in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes to reduce home blood pressure variability.