Felodipine therapy may not alter glucose and lipid metabolism in hypertensives. Felodipine Multicenter Prospective Study Group in Japan.

The effects of long-term monotherapy with felodipine, a calcium antagonist, on blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and serum lipid profiles were prospectively investigated in 51 hypertensive patients: 13 with normal glucose tolerance and 38 with glucose intolerance. The levels of plasma glucose, serum lipids, and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c were determined before and during long-term (7.5 +/- 0.5 months; range, 6 to 9 months) therapy with felodipine. A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed before and during long-term felodipine therapy. Significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures in both patient groups were maintained during the therapy. Neither fasting nor post-glucose load venous plasma glucose levels were altered in either group of patients, and no patients with normal glucose tolerance developed diabetes mellitus during the study. Serum lipid levels did not change significantly in either group of patients except for significant decreases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I in the group with normal glucose tolerance tests, but those changes remained within the normal range. Furthermore, neither serum lipid nor apolipoprotein levels were altered, even in patients with hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol levels, > 5.69 mmol/L = 220 mg/dL). These results suggest that long-term therapy with felodipine may not alter glucose and lipid metabolism in hypertensive patients, and felodipine appears to be useful as an antihypertensive agent for hypertensive patients with either dyslipidemia or impaired glucose metabolism.