Prevalence and clinical characteristics of primary aldosteronism in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension

The prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) is around 3-15% in patients with hypertension. Hypertension is a frequent complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) because of the close etiological relationship between these two diseases. However, the possibility of PA in patients with DM and hypertension is often overlooked and the prevalence of PA in patients with DM and hypertension in Japan is unknown. We enrolled 124 hospitalized patients with both DM and hypertension. PA was diagnosed according to the modified criteria for Japanese patients. We examined the prevalence of PA and compared clinical characteristics between patients with and without PA. In another analysis of 43 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PA, we compared the characteristics of patients with and without DM. Overall, 14/124 patients with DM and hypertension (11.3%) were diagnosed with PA. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the duration of DM was significantly shorter in the PA group. Fisher's direct probability test revealed that history of hypertension before the diagnosis of DM was a significant factor in patients with PA. Treatment with an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) did not affect the diagnosis of PA in these patients. Among 43 patients with PA, those with DM were significantly older and the delay to the diagnosis of PA was significantly longer compared with patients without DM. In conclusion, almost 10% of patients with DM and hypertension actually have PA. More extensive screening for PA is recommended in patients with DM and hypertension, regardless of the use of ARBs.