The effect of enalapril and timolol on blood lipids. A randomized multicenter hypertension study in general practice in Norway.

In a 24-week randomized, single-blind study Timolol (n = 63) and Enalapril (n = 57) proved to be potent and safe antihypertensive drugs. However, the effect on lipid metabolism was fundamentally different, despite the fact that the effect on total serum cholesterol did not significantly differ between the two groups. Enalapril had no adverse effect on any lipid fractions, while Timolol increased very low (VLDL) + low (LDL) density lipoprotein cholesterol by 7.6% (p less than 0.001) and total triglycerides by 34.5% (p less than 0.001), and decreased the favorable high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol by 11.3% (p less than 0.001). Thus, the ratio HDL/VLDL + LDL cholesterol was reduced by 17.1% (p less than 0.001). Enalapril reduced uric acid by 3.4% (NS), while Timolol increased uric acid by 4.0% (p less than 0.05). The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). The first steps in any attempt to solve the hypertension-coronary dilemma should be to take into consideration all pharmacologic effects of antihypertensive drugs.