Dose-related efficacy of irbesartan in patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension

Objective: A prospective open multicentre study was conducted in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension to compare the efficacy on diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and tolerance of treatment with either irbesartan 150mg od (once daily) or irbesartan 300mg od in patients who were defined as non-normalised responders with irbesartan 150mg od. Methods and results: A total of 14 820 hypertensive patients were included in the study. After 6 weeks with irbesartan 150mg od, in terms of their response to treatment, 8861 (61.9%) were normalised(DBP<90mm Hg), 1963 (13.7%) non-normalised responders (DBP >= 90mm Hg with a decrease in DBP >= 10mm Hg) and 3154 (22%) non-normalised non-responders (DBP >= 90mm Hg with a decrease in DBP<10mm Hg); 842 patients did not respect the protocol and could not be evaluated. The 1963 non-normalised responders were randomly assigned at week 6 to either irbesartan 150mg od (n=963) or irbesartan 300mg od (n=1000) for 5 weeks. A greater reduction in mean DBP was found in the group treated with irbesartan 300mg (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in terms of number or severity of adverse events between the two groups of patients.