Antihypertensive treatment with cilazapril. Resting and exercise blood pressure, hormones and enzymes.

The effects of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor cilazapril (Ro 31-2848) on resting and exercise blood pressure (BP) as well as on hormonal and enzyme activities were evaluated following a more than one year long-term treatment. After an initial placebo wash-out (mean sitting BP 151/101), n = 13 hypertensive patients were on cilazapril treatment (1.25, 2.5 or 5 mg/d; in 2 cases with 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide additionally) for 78 (70 to 82) weeks (phase A, mean sitting BP 137/91). Thereafter, they underwent a second placebo wash-out of 4.4 (1 to 10) weeks (phase B, mean sitting BP 137/94) again followed by cilazapril treatment of 9.5 (4 to 14) weeks (phase C, mean sitting BP 137/91) to titrate the minimum antihypertensive dose. At the end of each phase, blood pressure was measured at rest and during isotonic (bicycle) and isometric (handgrip) exercise, and hormones and enzymes were evaluated 4 h post-dose.