The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7376 p625
19 November 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Newer hypertensives lower central blood pressure more

Amlodipine and perindopril lower blood pressure near the heart more than older hypertensives do, even though they have similar effects on blood pressure in the arm, a sub-study of the Anglo-Scandinavian cardiac outcomes trial (ASCOT) suggests.

Researchers found that central aortic pulse pressure was 4.3mmHg lower (P<0.0001) in patients taking amlodipine and perindopril than in those taking atenolol and bendroflumethiazide. Preliminary results — from the CAFE (conduit artery function evaluation) study of 2,073 ASCOT patients — were presented at a late-breaking clinical trial session of the American Heart Association meeting in Dallas, Texas, this week.

The researchers propose that the greater effect of amlodipine and perindopril on central blood pressure (compared with atenolol and bendroflumethiazide) may explain the benefits in total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, stroke and cardiovascular events seen with these drugs in the ASCOT trial (PJ, 10 September, p301).