title: Use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to evaluate the selective angiotensin II receptor antagonist, telmisartan, and other antihypertensive drugs.
abstract: Telmisartan (Micardis (R)) is a new, orally active, long-acting angio-tensin (Ang) II receptor antagonist that is effective in the treatment of hypertension. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has emerged as an important method for evaluating the consistency of the antihypertensive effects of a drug throughout the dosing interval. ABPM was used to evaluate the antihypertensive efficacy of telmisartan in several placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter studies. Patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension were allocated randomly to groups to receive telmisartan 40 or 80 mg, losartan 50 mg, or placebo, once daily in a 6-week, fixed-dose study, or telmisartan 40-120 mg, amlodipine 5-10 mg, or placebo, once daily in a 12-week, dose-titration study. Patients treated with telmisartan 40 and 80 mg or placebo in a separate 4-week, fixed-dose study were included in an additional analysis. Telmisartan 40 and 80 mg significantly decreased mean ambulatory systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) relative to placebo for the entire 24 h period and in the following intervals: day (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.), morning (6 a.m. to noon), night (10 p.m. to 6 a.m), and the last 4 h of the dosing interval (P<0.01). Notably, telmisartan 40 or 80 mg was more effective than losartan, especially during the last 4-6 h of the dosing interval (P<0.05). Telmisartan 40- 120 mg tended to be more effective than amlodipine 5-10 mg in reducing SBP and DBP in each time interval, with significant differences between treatments noted for DBP in the last 4 h of the dosing interval and in the morning (P < 0.05). ABPM also revealed that the magnitude of the blood pressure decreasing effect with telmisartan was consistent throughout the dosing interval. These results demonstrate that telmisartan maintains a normal circadian blood pressure pattern and provides full 24 h blood pressure control with once-daily dosing.
authors.affiliation: Orange County Heart Institute and Research Center, Orange, California, USA. jmneutel@aol.com
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Neutel
mesh_terms: D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000592:standards; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000592:standards; D001565:Benzoates / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000592:standards; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D004341:Drug Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D000077333:Telmisartan
chemical_list: D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D001562:Benzimidazoles; D001565:Benzoates; D000077333:Telmisartan