COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF AMLODIPINE AND LOSARTAN ON 24-HOUR AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS

Effects of amlodipine (AML), a long-acting calcium antagonist, and losartan (LOS), an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, on 24-hr blood pressure profile were compared in 15 patients with essential hypertension. After 4 weeks of placebo period, the patients were treated with AML or LOS in a random cross-over design for 12–16 weeks each. Either drug was given once daily at 0800 and the doses were titrated so that the office blood pressure was reduced lower than 140/90 mmHg. At the end of each period, 24-hr blood pressure was monitored. Average office blood pressure was lowered from 158 ± 2/ 98 ± 2 mmHg to 134 ± 1/87 ± 1 mmHg by AML and 134 ± 2/88 ± 1 mmHg by LOS. Average 24-hr blood pressure was also reduced from 144 ± 3/ 92 ± 2 mmHg to 131 ± 2/84 ± 2 mmHg by AML and 135 ± 3/85 ± 2 mmHg by LOS. The averaged 24-hr systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in AML than in LOS (p < 0.05). Then, the 24-hr blood pressure was analyzed for four segments; morning (0530–0900 h), daytime (0930–1800 h), evening ...