Clinical experience with carvedilol.

Clinical experience indicates that carvedilol, a beta-blocker with vasodilating properties, is effective as once daily monotherapy in both young and elderly hypertensives. Titration is simple to an effective dosage, and response rates appear to be equivalent to those noted with other monotherapeutic agents presently recommended as initial therapy in hypertension. The drug is well tolerated by the majority of patients. No significant metabolic changes have been noted with carvedilol in short-term studies. Additional research is ongoing to determine the long-term effectiveness of this new antihypertensive agent.