title: Test of a novel method for analysis of the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs.
abstract: Diastolic blood-pressure data from 42 published studies, representing 23 anti-hypertensive drug regimens and 971 patients, were used to test the hypothesis that there is a linear relation between pretreatment diastolic pressure (P.T.D.P.) and the drug-induced fall in pressure (deltaD.P.), such that the "ideal-response line" relating these variables has a slope=1.0 and intercepts the P.T.D.P. axis at 90 mm Hg. Most of the regimens failed to show ideal behaviour; slopes of the regression lines were usually less than 1.0, and the intercepts were generally not at 90 mm Hg. Low coefficients of determination (r2) and broad 95% confidence intervals for the slopes and intercepts of the regression lines were common. Only 2 of the 23 regimens examined yielded r2 greater than 0.7, whereas 8 of the regimens exhibited r2 less than 0.25. These findings suggest a large interpatient variation in response to a given regimen. The data reported here show that what is thought to be an ideal-response relation for antihypertensive drug regimens is not observed in practice. However, the manner of presenting the data in order to test the hypothesis provides a useful method for assessing the effectiveness and variability of patient-responses to treatment.
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D003971:Diastole; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011187:Posture; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents