TREATMENT OF MILD HYPERTENSION WITH CAPTOPRIL OR CAPTOPRIL PLUS HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE - EFFECTS ON BLOOD-PRESSURE AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE

The effects of captopril alone or associated to hydrochlorothiazide on blood pressure and quality of life was studied in 244 hypertensive subjects. After a medication wash out period of 30 days (and 7 additional days when diuretics were used) patients were treated initially with captopril 25 mg b.i.d. (scheme A), if blood pressure was not normalized, hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg o.d was added (scheme B) and the dose of captopril was increased to 50 mg bid (scheme C) in a stepwise fashion. Sixteen patients (6.6%) were lost from follow up; in the rest a significant reduction of blood pressure was obtained at the end of the treatment period (from 163 / 98.9 +/- 19.7 / 3.1 to 143 / 85 +/- 12. 7 / 6. 7 p < 0.05), without changes in cardiac frequency. Using captopril alone, blood pressure was normalized at 15 and 75 days in 62.9 and 70.6% of patients respectively. With captopril plus hydrochlorothiazide blood pressure was normalized in 80.9% of patients. Quality of life improved significantly from of 42.8 +/- 1.7 to 50.7 +/- 15 score points (p < 0.05) secondary effects were observed in 7.4% of patients. It is concluded that captopril alone or associated to hydrochlorothiazide is effective in the treatment of mild hypertension, produces few secondary effects and improves the quality of life.