Efficacy and safety of irbesartan in treating essential hypertension

AIM:To evaluate the antihypertensive effects and safety of irbesartan in treating mild to moderate essential hypertension. METHODS: A multiple-center, randomized, double blind, double simulated study was designed. Two hundreds and sixteen patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were randomly divided into two groups. All patients received irbesartan 150 mg, qd+ 1 losartan simulated tablet, qd (n=104) or losartan 50 mg, qd+ 2 irbesartan simulated tablet, qd (n=112) after taking 2 wk placebo. The dosage could be increased to either irbesartan 300 mg, qd or losartan 100 mg,qd for 8 wk if the blood pressure was above 18.7/12 kPa after 4 wk administration. The other twenty patients took irbesartan openly. RESULTS: After 8 wk treatment, there was no significant difference in the effective rate between the groups of irbesartan and losartan ( 81.9 % vs 77.0 %, P0.05). The SBP was descended (2.9± 1.9)kPa and (2.6±2.0)kPa and the DBP was descended ( 1.8±1.1)kPa and ( 1.8±1.2)kPa, respectively. There was significant difference before and after treatment (P0.01). The adverse reactions occurred respectively 8.7 % and 8.9 % with no patient discontinued. Twenty-four hours blood pressure monitoring was measured in the opening groups with irbesartan and the T/P ratio were: SBP 62 % and DBP 56 %. CONCLUSION: Irbesartan is a long-term effective antihypertensive drug with less adverse reactions.