AMBULATORY BLOOD-PRESSURE MEASUREMENT AND EFFICACY OF DILTIAZEM - INFLUENCE OF THE TIMING OF DRUG DOSES AND INITIAL BLOOD-PRESSURE LEVEL

Clinical and 24-hour ambulatory measurements were made in 46 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension in order to confirm that the efficacy and safety of sustained-release diltiazem LP 300 mg were the same regardless of the time of day at which it was taken. After tw o weeks of placebo, patients were randomly assigned double-blind to ta ke diltiazem LP 300 mg either morning or evening for four weeks. Dilti azem LP 300 mg significantly lowered diastolic and systolic blood pres sure in both groups by clinical or 24-hour ambulatory measurement, and without any difference according to whether diltiazem LP 300 mg was a dministered morning or evening. A lesser fall in blood pressure during the night in both groups led to study of the effect of diltiazem LP 3 00 mg according to initial ambulatory diastolic blood pressure level. Diltiazem brought about a greater fall in blood pressure when patients had an ambulatory diastolic pressure of 90 mmHg or more. Clinical, la boratory and electrocardiographic parameters were all satisfactory, re gardless of the time at which the drug was taken.