Effect of eprosartan and enalapril in the treatment of elderly hypertensive patients: Subgroup analysis of a 26-week, double-blind, multicentre study

A double-blind comparator study was performed in 528 hypertensive patients [baseline sitting diastolic blood pressure (SitDBP) 95-114 mmHg]. The primary objective was to compare the incidence of drug-related cough in patients treated with enalapril and eprosartan. The secondary objective was to compare antihypertensive efficacy between treatments. This paper reports the results of a prespecified subgroup analysis performed in the patients under and over 65 years of age recruited into the study. Eprosartan was titrated from 200 mg b.i.d. to 300 mg b.i.d. and enalapril from 5 mg o.d. to 20 mg o.d. over 12 weeks. Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5-25 mg o.d. could be added where required to the treatment for the final 6 weeks of the titration phase if SitDBP greater than or equal to 90 mmHg. Patients received the maximum titrated dosage during the maintenance phase. In the study overall, the incidence of cough at monotherapy endpoint was significantly higher in the enalapril-treated group than in the eprosartan-treated group (p = 0.018). Similar mean changes in blood pressure from baseline were evident with each treatment. The elderly subpopulation mirrored the response of the study as a whole. Both treatments lowered BP with a further reduction evident following the addition of HCTZ at week 18. In conclusion, eprosartan is effective and safe in elderly hypertensive patients. The combination of eprosartan and HCTZ is also well tolerated and provided additional efficacy in those patients not responding to eprosartan alone. Compared with eprosartan, enalapril was associated with an increased risk of cough. These results suggest that, irrespective of age, patients may be less likely to discontinue treatment with eprosartan than with an ACE inhibitor.