Guanfacine in the treatment of hypertensives with a pronounced response to exercise and diabetes mellitus.

The authors assessed the antihypertensive effect of guanfacine (Estulic Sandoz) in 28 stage II hypertensive patients with a pronounced pressure response to the isometric test. Over a period of 4.3 months on the average, they managed to normalise both resting and exercise blood pressure in 89% of subjects. In another study, the authors administered guanfacine to 30 I- and II- type diabetics with essential, primarily stage I, hypertension. Over an average of 6 months, blood pressure normalised in 81% and, when using a guanfacine-saluretic combination, in additional 11%, that is, in a total of 92% of patients. It has been demonstrated that guanfacine has no adverse metabolic action. By contrast, the level of compensation of diabetes mellitus improved allowing 50% of patients to decrease their doses of oral antidiabetic drugs and insulin as well. The authors believe that, in diabetics with hypertension, guanfacine can be rightly regarded as the drug of first choice since it is effective in single-drug therapy and can be used with advantage in patients with whatever complication of diabetes mellitus.