[Evaluation of the antihypertensive effect and tolerability of a new delayed-action calcium channel blocker: nitrendipine, prescribed as a single daily dose of 20 mg].

The authors have studied the effects of Nitrendipine, orally given in a dose of 20 mg, once a day for 30 days, in patients with mild to moderate hypertension. Twelve patients initially entered the study but four of them discontinued the treatment during the first week, because of unwanted side-effects: headaches, palpitation, sensations of burning skin. The remaining eight patients underwent a comparative evaluation at the end of a placebo period (DO) and at the end of the active treatment (D30), including successively: an automatic blood pressure recording with a Bard-Sentron device for 3 hours, then a determination of plasma renin activity, aldosterone and catecholamines, and finally a measurement of the blood pressure with a mercury manometer, at rest and during a standardized exercise on an ergometric bicycle. At D30, the Nitrendipine tablet was given one hour after the beginning of the automatic recording. The blood pressure measured with the mercury manometer (i.e. approximately 2 hours after the dose of Nitrendipine) significantly decreased from D0 to D30, at rest and during exercise, respectively from 161.5/104.6 to 132.8/82.5 mmHg and from 210.0/116.8 to 190.0/95.6 mmHg. The automatic recording provided, at D0, a mean blood pressure value of 152.4/90.6 mmHg; at D30, this mean value was as high as 142.6/90.7 mmHg during the hour preceding the dose of Nitrendipine (NS) and as high as 129.2/78.6 mmHg during the 2nd hour following the intake of the tablet (p less than 0.01). Plasma aldosterone and plasma renin activity significantly (p less than 0.05) increased from D0 to D30, whereas catecholamines did not change.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)