Captopril vs Chlorthalidone in Mild Hypertension Equally effective in these elderly patients

Mildly hypertensive patients aged 65 years or more (mean age 70.1 years) randomly received either captopril 50mg bid (10 patients) or chlorthalidone 25mg once daily (10 patients) after a 3-week placebo washout period. The study was single-blind. There was a significant reduction in blood pressure following 3 months' treatment with both drugs. In captopril- and chlorthalidone-treated patients, respectively, blood pressure decreased from 170.0/98.5 and 171.0/99.0mm Hg to 152.4/86.0 and 151.5/87.0mm Hg. Following treatment, diastolic blood pressure was < 90mm Hg in 7 captopril patients and 6 chlorthalidone patients. Neither treatment affected heart rate ..

Both treatments were well tolerated. However, chlorthalidone produced well known changes in some biochemical parameters. Three months' treatment with chlorthalidone significantly increased serum glucose (95.4 vs 89.9 mg/100ml) and serum triglycerides (142.5 vs 136.7 mg/100ml) and decreased serum potassium (3.7 vs 4.2 mEq/L) compared with baseline values. Both treatments were equally effective in treating these elderly hypertensive patients. Further long term studies are warranted to investigate the effects of captopril in elderly hypertensives. Corea, L. et al. : Current Therapeutic Research 36.' 347 (No 2, 1984)

0156-2703/ 84/ 0929-0009/ 0$01 .00/ 0 © ADIS Press INPHARMA ® 29 Sep 1984 9