Abstract

ROBLES, N. R. et al. Evaluation of lercanidipine in general practice setting. An. Med. Interna (Madrid) [online]. 2003, vol.20, n.6, pp.10-14. ISSN 0212-7199.

Objective: To determine the efficacy and tolerability of a long-acting dihydropyridine in the clinical settings of general practice.  Material and methods: 110 essential hypertensives were included (age 62.3 ± 10.8 years, 51 men and 53 women, 38% obese -IMC >30 kg/m2, ten diabetics). 104 patients ended the followup. Patients were treated with lercanidipine 10 mg once daily in the morning. Follow-up lasted 6 months. When blood pressure was not controlled (BP < 140/90 mmHg) in any visit, a second drug was added, excluding calcium channel blockers. Antiadrenergic drugs were recommended. If patients were not controlled in two consecutive visits they were excluded from follow-up.  Results: Significant reductions in both systolic (baseline 157.4 ± 11.7 vs 131.1 ± 6.8 mmHg, p < 0,001) and diastolic BP (baseline 94.7 ± 5.8 vs 80.0 ± 5.5 mmHg, p < 0,001) were attained at six months. Mean SBP decrease was 26.7 mmHg and mean DBP reduction was 15.6 mmHg. At the study end, 84.3% of the patients achieved a BP < 140/90 mmHg. Thirty patients needed a second drug to become controlled (26 at the study end). The overall incidence of adverse effects was 4,4% (n=6) and just three patients withdrew the treatment due to untoward effects. Plasmatic cholesterol lowered from 225.3 ± 41.0 to 216.7 ± 25.3 mg/dl (p = 0,03) and urate decreased from 5.6 ± 1.6 to 5.1 ± 1.4 mgldl, p = 0,03).  Conclusions: Lercanidipine is a calcium channel blockers of high efficacy and low incidence of adverse effects in the clinical settings of general practice. It seems to have a positive metabolic effects on plasmatic levels of cholesterol and urate.

Keywords : Arterial hypertension; Antihypertensive drugs; Calcium chanel blockers.

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