The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7488 p145
9 February 2008

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Thiazide diuretics offer better heart failure protection

Thiazide diuretics offer greater protection against heart failure than — and are at least as effective at lowering blood pressure as — calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and alpha-blockers for patients with hypertension as part of metabolic syndrome, say researchers (Archives of Internal Medicine 2008;168:207).

This is true despite the latter three’s more favourable metabolic profile, which has led doctors to select these drugs for these patients, they add. The lack of benefit of the newer drugs was particularly marked for black patients with metabolic syndrome, the researchers say.