High blood pressure (hypertension) can lead to and make worse many complications of diabetes, including diabetic eye disease and kidney disease. Most people with diabetes develop high blood pressure during their life. Having diabetes makes high blood pressure and other heart and circulation problems more likely because diabetes damages arteries and makes them targets for hardening (atherosclerosis). Atherosclerosis can cause high blood pressure, which if not treated, can lead to blood vessel damage, stroke, heart failure, heart attack, or kidney failure. Compared to people with normal blood pressure readings, men and women with hypertension more often have: Coronary artery disease (heart disease) Strokes Peripheral vascular disease (hardening of the arteries in the legs and feet) Heart failure