AMBULATORY BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING FOR EVALUATION OF LONG-ACTING BETA-BLOCKERS IN TAIWAN

This study attempted to evaluate the efficacy of several ''long-acting '' antihypertensive agents. One-hundred consecutive hypertensive subje cts with normal casual blood pressure after once-daily antihypertensiv e monotherapy treatment were studied. They were divided into three gro ups: group A, metoprolol (100 mg, daily; group B, atenolol (100 mg, da ily); and group C, nadolol (80 mg, daily). Ambulatory blood pressure m onitoring (ABPM) was used to evaluate the efficacy of the antihyperten sive agents. The overall average ambulatory blood pressures were withi n the normal limits for all thr ee groups. However, there were some ab normally high blood pressure (BP) readings shown on ABPM. Patients wit h tin abnormally high systolic blood pressure (SEP) average > 140 mmHg : accounted for 16.7% of group Al 19.4% of group B and 20% of group C. Those with an abnormally high diastolic blood pressure (DBP) average > 90 mmHg accounted for 16.7%, 19.4% and 10%, respectively, of the cor responding groups. There were no significant differences in the freque ncy of abnormally high SEP and DBP among the three groups. These ''lon g-acting'' antihypertensive drugs did not effectively control BP throu ghout the entire day. The duration of antihypertensive effect is not n ecessarily reflected by the blood half-life of the drug. ABPM is an ef fective way to ascertain the efficacy of ''long-acting'' hypertensive agents.