2005 Volume 46 Issue 3 Pages 433-442
Patients with moderate to severe hypertension may need more than two antihypertensive drugs in combination to achieve ideal blood pressure (BP) control. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of administering the antihypertensive agents either all together in the morning or separately with two agents in the morning and one calcium channel blocker (CCB) in the evening. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) was performed among 15 patients (mean, 59 years) with moderate to severe essential hypertension. All patients received at least 3 antihypertensive drugs for ideal BP control. Two treatment regimens were given to each patient: Regimen 1: All antihypertensive agents were given once a day in the morning; Regimen 2: All antihypertensive agents were given in the morning, except the CCB which was given at 4:00 pm. After receiving regimen 1 for 4 weeks, each patient underwent 24-hour ABPM to analyze the BP control. After the first ABPM, each patient was switched to regimen 2. After 4 weeks of treatment with regimen 2, each patient underwent the second ABPM measurement. The pretreatment mean systolic and diastolic BP were 179.6 ± 21.7 and 107.4 ± 19.9 mmHg, respectively. Between the two regimens, there was no significant difference in the mean 24-hour BP (126.1 ± 5.8/73.3 ± 3.8 versus 130.2 ± 6.2/75.1 ± 4.7 mmHg), daytime BP (128.2 ± 6.5/75.3 ± 3.8 versus 132.4 ± 5.8/77.2 ± 4.4 mmHg), nighttime BP (125.2 ± 4.9/72.4 ± 3.3 versus 130.9 ± 6.2/73.8 ± 4.1 mmHg), and 24-hour heart rate (65.1 ± 3.8 versus 64.2 ± 3.4 bpm). The circadian BP and heart rate profiles were almost identical between regimen 1 and regimen 2. We conclude that in patients with moderate to severe hypertension treated with at least 3 antihypertensive agents, administering a CCB simultaneously with other antihypertensive agents in the morning or separately in the evening did not affect the 24-hour BP control.
