24-HOUR BLOOD-PRESSURE MONITORING AND EFFECTS OF INDAPAMIDE

Twenty-four-hour blood pressure (BP) monitoring with a noninvasive device (Kontron) has been used to assess the effect of a single dose of indapamide in a group of patients with essential hypertension. Originally 23 patients were selected. Three patients withdrew from the study because of refusal to go through the second 24-hour recording. Eight of the remaining patients had to be excluded for technical reasons, which left 12 patients available for analysis. All patients received a single dose of indapamide, 2.5 mg/day. Before treatment began, a 24-hour BP control was performed, and a second one a month later (37 ± 8 days). The age of the patients was 46 ± 10 years. Diurnal BP (8 am to 10 pm) and heart rate were, respectively, 148 ± 15 101 ± 6 mm Hg and 79 ± 9 beats/min; night BP (10 pm to 8 am) was 131 ± 15 88 ± 7 mm Hg and heart rate 71 ± 10 beats/min. After therapy, diurnal BP was 131 ± 15 92 ± 7 mm Hg ( -15 ± 7 -8 ± 4: p < 0.0001 p < 0.0001); heart rate 82 ± 8 beats/min (difference not significant); night BP was 115 ± 13 80 ± 8 mm Hg ( -16 ± 11 -8 ± 7: p < 0.0001 p < 0.0001) and heart rate 70 ± 9 beats/min (difference not significant). Twenty-four-hour systolic work values were 106 ± 15 at the beginning of the trial and 96 ± 14 (-9.7 ± 14; p < 0.05) after 1 month of indapamide treatment. Variability did not change with treatment. These results confirm that 24-hour BP monitoring gives better information on response to treatment and that indapamide decreases BP in mild and moderate hypertension throughout the day while systolic work decreases only during night-time. © 1990.