TOLERANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF RAMIPRIL I N THE TREATMENT OF ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION - A MULTICENTRIC STUDY

Background: In the last two decades, angiotensin converting enzyme inh ibitors have become first line medications in the treatment of hyperte nsion. Aim: To assess the tolerance and effectiveness of ramipril as m onotherapy in the treatment of essential hypertension. Patients and me thods: One hundred eighty eight hypertensive patients, age 21 to 80 ye ars old, coming from 4 Chilean hospitals were studied. Using an open n on controlled design, they were treated with placebo for two weeks and with the active drug during eight weeks, in initial doses of 2.5 mg/d ay that were adjusted to 5 mg/day if diastolic blood pressure did not drop below 90 mm Hg or if its reduction was less than 10 mm Hg. Result s: During the active drug treatment period, systolic blood pressure de creased from 164.8 +/- 7.2 to 147.3 +/- 4.8 mm Hg. Diastolic blood pre ssure dropped from 102.3 +/- 3.1 to 87.8 +/- 3.0 mm Hg. Seventy percen t of patients achieved a diastolic blood pressure of less than 90 mm H g, 56.9% with 2.5 mg/day and 13.8% with 5 mg/day. Dizziness, cough and headache were the main adverse reactions, observed in 3.7, 3.2 and 2. 1% of patients respectively. Adherence to treatment was 98%. There wer e no changes in laboratory values during the treatment period. Conclus ions: Ramipril is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of ess ential hypertension.