Anti-hypertensive drugs have different effects on ventricular hypertrophy regression.
OBJECTIVE
There is a direct relationship between the regression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and a decreased risk of mortality. This investigation aimed to describe the effects of anti-hypertensive drugs on cardiac hypertrophy through a meta-analysis of the literature.


METHODS
The Medline (via PubMed), Lilacs and Scielo databases were searched using the subject keywords cardiac hypertrophy, antihypertensive and mortality. We aimed to analyze the effect of anti-hypertensive drugs on ventricle hypertrophy.


RESULTS
The main drugs we described were enalapril, verapamil, nifedipine, indapamina, losartan, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and atenolol. These drugs are usually used in follow up programs, however, the studies we investigated used different protocols. Enalapril (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) and verapamil (Ca(++) channel blocker) caused hypertrophy to regress in LVH rats. The effects of enalapril and nifedipine (Ca(++) channel blocker) were similar. Indapamina (diuretic) had a stronger effect than enalapril, and losartan (angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist) produced better results than atenolol (selective beta1 receptor antagonist) with respect to LVH regression.


CONCLUSIONS
The anti-hypertensive drugs induced various degrees of hypertrophic regression.
Ferreira Filho
Celso
C
Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André/SP, Brasil. celsoferreira.dmed@epm.br
Abreu
Luiz Carlos de
LC
Valenti
Vitor E
VE
Ferreira
Marcelo
M
Meneghini
Adriano
A
Silveira
José Alexandre
JA
Riera
Andrés R Pérez
AR
Colombari
Eduardo
E
Murad
Neif
N
Santos-Silva
Paulo Roberto
PR
Silva
Lovian José Henrique Pereira da
LJ
Vanderlei
Luiz Carlos Marques
LC
Carvalho
Tatiana D
TD
Ferreira
Celso
C
D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D051381:Rats; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents