The calcium channel blocker nitrendipine in single- and multiple-agent antihypertensive regimens: preliminary report of a multicenter study.

The antihypertensive efficacy of the calcium channel blocker nitrendipine was evaluated in a 12-center collaborative study during 6 months of treatment. Following an initial placebo period, 318 patients with supine diastolic blood pressures greater than 90 mm Hg were given nitrendipine 5 mg twice daily for 1 week; if goal blood pressure was not reached (supine diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg with a fall of at least 10 mm Hg), the dose was doubled, and if necessary it was doubled again after an additional week. By the end of titration, goal blood pressure had been achieved in 132 patients (43%). During the subsequent 5 months of study, 155 patients continued to take nitrendipine alone; their post-titration supine diastolic blood pressure was 85 +/- 7 mm Hg, and at the end of the 6-month study it was 84 +/- 7 mm Hg. There were no changes in body weight or in heart rate. In 38 patients with a supine diastolic blood pressure of 95 +/- 9 mm Hg after titration, propranolol was added to the nitrendipine and decreased the supine diastolic blood pressure to 86 +/- 9 mm Hg by the end of the study; and in another 74 patients with a post-titration supine diastolic blood pressure of 93 +/- 7 mm Hg, addition of hydrochlorothiazide decreased the supine diastolic blood pressure to 86 +/- 7 mm Hg by the end of the study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)