Heart patients with diabetes to keep the top number of blood pressure between 130 and 140, advises a U. S. researcher.

The patients involved in the study had increased risk of heart attack, stroke or death when blood pressures were either too high or too low, said Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff of the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Cooper-DeHoff also said that blood pressure greater than 140 has been associated with a nearly 50 percent increase in cardiovascular risk in heart patients with diabetes.

The International Verapamil SR-Trandolapril study revealed for the first time that these patients also had a similar increase in risk when their blood pressure was controlled to lower than 115 systolic, Cooper-DeHoff said, talking about her study.

The study further said that however, efforts to reduce systolic blood pressure to below 130 did not appear to offer any additional benefit to diabetics with coronary artery disease compared with reduction of systolic blood pressure to between 130 and 140.

Cooper-DeHoff said in a statement, "Our data suggest that in patients with both diabetes and coronary artery disease, there is a blood pressure threshold below which cardiovascular risk increases." (With Inputs from Agencies)