Antihypertensive efficacy of nitrendipine and its effects on carbohydrate metabolism. A controlled clinical study versus placebo

: Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are both common conditions which frequently co-exist. The calcium channel blockers are potentially diabetogenic since insulin secretion may be impaired by their use. The aim of this study was to determine whether nitrendipine, a second generation dihydropyridine derivative calcium antagonist, is capable of interfering with carbohydrate metabolism and insulin secretion in hypertensive diabetics at the doses commonly used in therapy. In a 12-week double blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial, the effects of nitrendipine (20 mg/day) on arterial blood pressure, glycaemic homeostasis and other metabolic parameters were evaluated in 30 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension and type II diabetes mellitus. The results showed nitrendipine to be an effective antihypertensive agent which neither impaired the overall glucose homeostasis nor caused any other potentially harmful metabolic side effect. In conclusion, these data suggest that the calcium channel antagonist nitrendipine is a metabolically safe drug to use in the treatment of hypertension, especially in patients with diabetes mellitus.