New Delhi: Patients suffering from both hypertension and diabetes should adopt adjunct therapy (treatment used together with primary treatment) such as yoga, regularly monitor their blood pressure, and go for dual therapies, which means they should combine widely used blood pressure treatments with specific newer drugs to maximise benefits. These are part of the first-ever India-specific guidelines, issued by the Association of Physicians of India (API) in collaboration with the Indian College of Physicians (ICP), for those struggling with both high blood pressure and diabetes, which are among the leading non-communicable or lifestyle diseases in India. They contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality in the country.
The API and ICP are two of the largest professional networks of physicians. The guidelines were published Monday in the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India . The new guidelines have been developed in collaboration with experts from India and other countries in the Southeast Asian region to ensure that the recommendations are tailored to the specific challenges faced by patients in these regions.
A large study published last year, and carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in association with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), showed that there are 31.5 crore people with hypertension in India, and 10.1 crore diabetics.
Research indicates that over 50 percent of hypertensive patients in India are also diagnos.