Comparison of nitrendipine and hydrochlorothiazide for systemic hypertension.

Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy with associated LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction is frequently found in patients with systemic hypertension, and is multifactorial in origin. Although a reduction in blood pressure (BP) often results in regression of hypertrophy, the pharmacologic profiles of the antihypertensive agents used may determine the probability of such regression despite similar levels of BP reduction. Thiazide diuretic drugs may actually result in increased LV hypertrophy; calcium channel antagonists may cause regression or no change. The effects of treatment with nitrendipine (20 mg/day) or hydrochlorothiazide (50 mg/day) were compared in an 8-week, double-blind study of 18 hypertensive subjects aged 50 years or older. BP was significantly reduced (p less than 0.05) by both nitrendipine (from 161 +/- 29/102 +/- 4 to 145 +/- 24/92 +/- 7 mm Hg; mean +/- standard deviation) and hydrochlorothiazide (from 162 +/- 15/105 +/- 6 to 143 +/- 20/95 +/- 7 mm Hg). Plasma norepinephrine increased in the nitrendipine group, from 202 +/- 110 to 332 +/- 220 pg/ml at 8 weeks of therapy and in the hydrochlorothiazide group, from 147 +/- 130 to 313 +/- 277. Plasma renin activity changed from 3.2 +/- 2.4 to 3.5 +/- 2.1 during nitrendipine treatment, but from 2.1 +/- 2.1 to 10.5 +/- 10.8 ng angiotensin l/ml/90 min (p less than 0.05) during treatment with hydrochlorothiazide. Left ventricular mass index did not change significantly with either therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)