title: Old antihypertensive agents-diuretics and beta-blockers: do we know how and in whom they lower blood pressure?
abstract: Morbidity and mortality data that increasingly favor the use of diuretics and beta-blockers continue to accumulate. Nonetheless, the use of these agents particularly diuretics is viewed as a dated practice. The issue of which antihypertensive drug to use will remain complex and confusing as the marketing juggernauts of the pharmaceutical industry vigorously promote drug classes such as angiotensin- converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor antagonists, and calcium-channel blockers. A pharmacologic middle ground will probably be reached in the form of fixed-dose combination therapy. Diuretics and b-blockers are mechanistically rational when combined with numerous other drugs; thus, the issue of which drug should be used to begin treatment will be settled by a truce, albeit an uneasy one, favoring the increased use of fixed-dose combination antihypertensive therapy.
authors.affiliation: Box 980160, MCV Station, Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0160, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sica
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001581:Benzothiadiazines; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000187:drug effects; D004232:Diuretics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D049993:Sodium Chloride Symporter Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D001581:Benzothiadiazines; D004232:Diuretics; D049993:Sodium Chloride Symporter Inhibitors