Effects and mechanism of telmisartan on prevention of atrial fibrillation recurrence in hypertensive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of telmisartan on prevention of atrial fibrillation recurrence in hypertensive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.Methods A total of 186 hypertensive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were randomly divided into the observation group(n=91) and the control group(n=95),all the patients were treated with amiodarone and telmisartan 20-80 mg/d were administered simultaneously in the observation group,course of the treatment was six months;patients were given calcium antagonists,beta-blockers or diuretics as additional treatment if their blood pressures were not well controlled,while patients of the control group did not receive antihypertensive drugs including angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers.During the follow-up time,changes of blood pressure,numbers of cases of atrial fibrillation recurrence,episodes of atrial fibrillation,time of the first atrial fibrillation recurrence and changes of left ventricular end diastolic dimension(LVEDD)and left atrial dimension(LAD) were recorded.Results There were no significant differences in blood pressure between two groups;there was more prolonged first recurrence time,less episodes of atrial fibrillation and numbers of cases of atrial fibrillation recurrence in the observation group compared to those of the control group;LVEDD and LAD of the observation group significantly reduced compared with those of the control group at the end of 6 months(P0.05).Conclusions Telmisartan can prevent atrial fibrillation recurrence in the hypertensive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation,the mechanism may be inhibition of atrial remodeling.