(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- China has started a nationwide research project among adults with type 2 diabetes who also suffer from high blood pressure to reduce cardiovascular disease among the nation's diabetics.

China has kicked off the five-year study in over 200 research centers, state-backed Xinhua News agency reported. Some 12,000 participants will be selected for the study which involves either intensive antihypertensive treatment or conventional antihypertensive treatment.

China has 114 million adults who live with diabetes, and more than half of them have hypertension. About 90 percent of all have diabetes mellitus type 2. 

The study aims to establish better treatment plans for diabetics who have high blood pressure, said Ning Guang, a research sponsor and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, adding that such global plans do not exist. 

Editor: Emmi Laine