Long-term experience with tertatolol in hypertension.

The long-term antihypertensive activity and acceptability of a new beta-blocking agent tertatolol (T) (5 mg once daily) was assessed in a 12-month (M0-M12) open study, in 110 out-patients (64 men, 46 women, mean age 53.5 +/- 1.0 years), presenting with stable placebo-resistant hypertension (HT) (95 less than or equal to diastolic blood pressure less than 130 mm Hg on 3 occasions during a 1-month placebo run-in period). To obtain normalization of blood pressure (BP), treatment was adapted as from M3, adding a combined thiazide- and potassium sparing-diuretic (D) and, if necessary, the vasodilator dihydralazine (V). At M12, 93.6% of patients were controlled (supine diastolic BP less than 95 mm Hg) among whom 72.7% under T monotherapy, 16.4% under double therapy (T + D) and 4.5% under triple therapy (T + D + V). Overall variations of BP were 26.4 mm Hg for SBP (from 171.7 +/- 1.6 to 145.3 +/- 1.3 mm Hg; p less than 0.01) and 19.9 mm Hg for DBP (from 105.6 +/- 0.7 to 85.7 +/- 0.6 mm Hg; p less than 0.01). Under T monotherapy, reduction in diastolic BP occurred early (15.0 mm Hg at M1) and was sustained thereafter (19.5 mm Hg at M12); HT control was comparable in the 40- to 60- and greater than 60-year-old age groups (respectively 67.6% and 74.1%) and higher in the less than 40-year-old group (100%). It also rose from 61.2% when initial diastolic BP was greater than 105 mm Hg to 82.0% when it was less than or equal to 105 mm Hg.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)