[Side effects induced by captopril. Comparison of a series of hypertensive patients with renal failure and a series with cardiac failure].

The first oral converting enzyme inhibitor, Captopril, has been used to treat hypertension and cardiac failure since 1978. Based on this two year experience, we studied the side-effects of this drug in 64 patients, a privileged series as it included 32 hypertensive patients with chronic renal failure and 32 patients with cardiac failure and normal renal function. After 16 months of treatment, we observed 19 p. 100 of skin complaints, 17 p. 100 disturbance of taste, 6 p. 100 oral problems, and one case of orthostatic hypotension. From the biological point of view: 20 p. 100 eosinophilia, 10 p. 100 hyperkalemia, 5 p. 100 antinuclear antibodies, 2 p. 100 renal failure, and one case of agranulocytosis. The group with renal failure had many more side effects due to a relative dosage (corrected for weight and renal function) which was three times as great. It would therefore appear to be essential to adapt the dosage in each individual case, a task which we have attempted using a formula which considerably reduced the incidence of side effects in our series: (formula; see text)