Circadian blood pressure change after carteolol chloride in younger and older hypertensive patients.

To determine whether there is an age-related difference in circadian blood pressure changes after administration of a beta-adrenergic blocker, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure was measured before and after administration of long-acting carteolol, a beta-blocker with intrinsic sympathomimetic activity, in 9 younger and 13 older hypertensive patients. Ambulatory blood pressure was measured noninvasively using an ambulatory blood pressure monitor every 30 minutes for 24 hours before and 8 weeks after a once-daily administration of 15 mg of carteolol. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the office significantly decreased in both groups after 8 weeks of carteolol treatment. The whole-day systolic and diastolic blood pressures also fell significantly after carteolol treatment in both groups. Carteolol reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressures during the day in both groups. However, no reduction was observed in nighttime systolic blood pressure in either group, although nighttime diastolic blood pressure tended to decrease in the younger group (P = 0.051). The pulse rate during the night significantly increased in both groups, although no change was observed during the day in either group. We conclude that the antihypertensive effect of carteolol on the circadian blood pressure pattern in younger and older hypertensive patients is comparable. Carteolol reduced only daytime blood pressure while hardly affecting the nighttime blood pressure in both groups.