title: Efficacy and tolerability of enalapril and sustained-release verapamil in older patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.
abstract: The study involved 113 patients over age 50 years with mild to moderate essential hypertension, randomly assigned to treatment with enalapril (n = 54) or sustained-release verapamil (n = 59). During an eight-week titration period, doses were adjusted to achieve supine diastolic blood pressures (DBP) below 90 mmHg; patients were then given maintenance doses for eight weeks. Mean blood pressures were reduced significantly from 147.7/93.9 mmHg at baseline to 137.7/84.5 mmHg at the end of the maintenance period in the enalapril group and from 155.1/95.1 to 142.4/86.2 mmHg in the verapamil group. In the patients who completed treatment, the mean daily doses required to maintain DBP below 90 mmHg were 9.6 mg of enalapril and 244.9 mg of verapamil. There were 11 treatment failures in the enalapril group and 22 in the verapamil group: eight of the enalapril and 17 of the verapamil patients did not attain goal blood pressures and three and five were withdrawn because of side effects. It is concluded that both enalapril and sustained-release verapamil were generally effective and well tolerated in the treatment of mild to moderate hypertension in the middle-aged and older patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lancaster
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urick
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Lavin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D004656:Enalapril / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation; D014700:Verapamil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D004656:Enalapril; D014700:Verapamil