Dihydropyridines and the treatment of hyerptension

Journal of Clinical and Basic Cardiology 1999; 2 (2): 163-166

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Keywords: Diabetes mellitus,  Dihydropyridin,  Endpunkt,  Hypertonie,  Kalziumkanalblocker,  linksventrikuläre Hypertrophie,  Morbidität,  Mortalität,  calcium channel blocker,  Diabetes,  dihydropyridine,  hypertension,  left ventricular hypertrophy,  morbidity,  mortality,  Outcome

Dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers reduce blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients. Outcome studies are at present only available in the elderly. In patients with systolic-diastolic hypertension and in patients with isolated systolic hypertension, nifedipine or nitrendipine-based antihypertensive treatment reduced the incidence of combined fatal and nonfatal strokes and of cardiovascular events. All-cause and cardiovascular mortality were significantly reduced or tended to be lower in the active-treatment groups compared to the control groups. Treatment was also beneficial in diabetics, particularly in terms of absolute risk reduction. There was no evidence of an increase of non-cardiovascular events or mortality, including cancer and bleeding, but it should be noted that the outcome trials were of relatively short duration. Finally, further studies are needed to establish whether the results obtained in the elderly would also be valid for younger patients with hypertension. J Clin Basic Cardiol 1999; 2: 163-6.