[The long-term monotherapy with preparations from the 4 basic groups of antihypertensive agents of patients with mild and moderate arterial hypertension. The Multicenter Captopril and the Quality of Life Study. The working group of the Multicenter Captopril and the Quality of Life Study].

A multicenter randomized controlled trial was performed to compare antihypertensive effects and tolerance of captopril monotherapy with those of reference drugs from three other main groups of antihypertensive drugs: propranolol, hydrochlorothiazide, nifedipine. The trial included 345 males with essential hypertension stage I-II by WHO criteria. Evaluable patients after 8 months of treatment comprised 85.8%. 8-month monotherapy with captopril, nifedipine, hydrochlorothiazide and propranolol was completed by 53.49%, 75.28%, 45.78% of patients, respectively. An antihypertensive effect was reached in 57.97% of patients on monotherapy. Normalization of arterial pressure took place in 51.3%. The 4 drugs in the given doses produced a significant and similar effect in relation to the action on arterial pressure (absolute value). As for individual effects (complete and partial), captopril and propranolol were equal, nifedipine was more beneficial than hydrochlorothiazide. Side effects in captopril monotherapy arose 1.5-2 times less frequently than in response to propranolol or nifedipine and were similar to those of hydrochlorothiazide.