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  • Title: Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition in clinical practice. Re-examination of step care: choice of first drug.
    Author: Breckenridge A.
    Journal: J Cardiovasc Pharmacol; 1985; 7 Suppl 1():S117-20. PubMed ID: 2580163.
    Abstract:
    In any therapeutic situation, the choice of drug therapy depends on an estimation of relative risk and benefit. With respect to moderate hypertension, and with less certainty, mild hypertension, the use of drug therapy has resulted in a decrease in overall mortality, a decrease in the incidence of stroke and renal impairment, but little or no change in the incidence of ischemic heart disease. For several years, the choice of first drug in these situations has rested between thiazide diuretics and beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents. There is probably little to choose between these two groups in terms of efficacy, and equally there is little evidence that patient response to one or other agents can be predicted either on demographic or biochemical evidence. There are, however, several studies both in Africa and America suggesting that black patients have a relatively greater hypotensive response to thiazides than to beta-blockers. The adverse reaction profile of these two groups is quite different. There is currently much debate whether the administration of large doses of thiazide diuretics (for example, 10 mg bendrofluazide per day) may cause a constellation of metabolic side effects (hyperlipemia, hypokalemia, abnormal glucose tolerance, and hyperuricemia) which may result in an increase of the risk of developing coronary artery disease in spite of lowering blood pressure. Further, there is no good evidence that the hypotensive effect of diuretics is dose dependent. On the other hand, the evidence that beta-blockers when used as antihypertensive agents have a primary preventive effect for ischemic heart disease is currently very small.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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