Effect of atenolol, a new cardioselective beta-blocker, on plasma renin activity in treatment of hypertension.

Atenolol, a cardioselective beta-blocking drug, was prescribed in doses of 100 mg b.i.d. in 23 patients with essential hypertension. At the end of the first month of treatment with Atenolol we found a significant fall in blood pressure, heart rate and plasma renin activity (P.R.A.). Besides, there existed a relationship between changes in diastolic blood pressure, in mean arterial pressure and initial plasma renin activity, and a relationship between changes in blood pressure and changes in P.R.A. It results from this finding that pretreatment P.R.A. is of predictive value of short-term efficacy of the beta-blocker. This correlation was borderline in 21 patients after a mean of 7 month treatment and could no be found for 12 cases after a mean of 10 month-treatment while the fall in P.R.A. was still significant. It therefore appears that--with reserve of the representativeness of the sample--quantitative relations between the antihypertensive effect of Atenonol and P.R.A. are no longer significant on long-term treatment.