Rationale The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT), sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is the largest outcome trial of antihypertensive treatment ever carried out and the only large blood pressure (BP) trial to be carried out in a US population in the past decade.1 The rationale for ALLHAT, which was designed in th...

As a side project to a study of coronary risk factors 4878 men and women aged 20-53 were interviewed about present and previous use of antihypertensive drugs. Serum lipid and glucose concentrations were compared in 124 present users, 73 previous users, and 124 controls matched for age, sex, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Users of betablockers, thiazides, and other antihypertensive d...

This article examines the evidence justifying the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors as first-line antihypertensive drugs. ACE inhibitors are as effective as traditional antihypertensive agents and, in addition, exert their blood-pressure-lowering effect with near optimal hemodynamic alterations. These drugs have a good tolerance and safety profile although they induce cough ...

The best antihypertensive regimen for use in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension has not been determined. When nonpharmacological treatment of hypertension fails, initial drug treatment with diuretic drugs, sympatholytic agents (including beta-adrenergic receptor blockers), or vasodilators will result in satisfactory blood pressure control. However, each of these therapies has effects t...

Sexual dysfunction is frequently encountered in hypertensive patients. Available data indicates that sexual dysfunction is more frequent in treated than in untreated patients, generating the hypothesis that antihypertensive therapy might be associated with sexual dysfunction. Several lines of evidence suggest that differences between antihypertensive drugs exist regarding their effects on sexua...

BACKGROUND Antihypertensive medications are widely prescribed by doctors and heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry. Despite strong evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of thiazide diuretics, trends in both promotion and prescription of antihypertensive drugs favour newer, less cost-effective agents. Observational evidence shows correlations between exposure to pharmace...