Effect of beta-blockade on exercise capacity in hypertensive subjects: a one-year double-blind study of celiprolol and metoprolol.

To assess the effect of beta-blocker antihypertensive therapy on exercise capacity, 40 patients randomized to celiprolol 200 mg and metoprolol 100 mg daily in a double-blind fashion were studied after a month of placebo and a year of active treatment. Both drugs normalized office blood pressure and produced echocardiographic and electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy regression. In symptom-limited maximal stress tests before and after treatment, exercise duration increased with (p < 0.0001) celiprolol (513-700 seconds) and metoprolol (520-634 seconds), although more with the former (p = 0.02). Resting heart rate was reduced with both, more with metoprolol (p < 0.001), while heart rate at peak exercise was reduced similarly with both medications (p < 0.005). Blood pressure at peak exercise was reduced with both celiprolol (217-184 mmHg; p = 0.0002) and metoprolol (218-185 mmHg, p < 0.0001) to a similar degree (p = NS). Exercise parameters were not related to patient age or the degree of left ventricular hypertrophy regression (p = NS). It is concluded that beta-blocker antihypertensive therapy improves exercise capacity, decreasing heart rate and blood pressure responses to stress, irrespective of left ventricular structural changes.