Treatment of hypertension with hydrochlorothiazide and spironolactone.

A comparison was made of the antihypertensive effect of a daily dose of 150 mg. of hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) with one of 150 mg. of spironolactone (SL) in 48 patients with essential hypertension.The blood pressure values after six weeks of therapy with HCT were not significantly different from those after SL. Treatment of 25 of these patients with the two agents combined did not reduce the blood pressure further. Blood urea nitrogen concentrations increased with both HCT and SL treatment.With combined treatment there was a further increase in blood urea nitrogen concentration and a decrease in serum sodium concentrations without weight loss beyond that achieved with either HCT or SL alone.