Efficacy of valsartan versus fosinopril in the treatment of aged patients with hypertension

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of valsartan versus fosinopril in the treatment of aged patients with mild to moderate hypertension. Methods: An unblended and parallelcontrolled study recruited 140 aged patients with mild to moderate hypertension, who randomly received either oral valsartan 80～160mg daily and oral fosinopril 10～40mg daily for 1 year. Ultrasound cardiography (UCG) and urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) were measured before and after the 1-year treatment. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed before and after the 2-month treatment. Results:No significant differences in the overall response rate of valsartan and fosinopril(97. 0% vs. 96. 9 %) were found. After 1-year treatment with valsartan or fosinopril, both indices of left ventricular hypertrophy by UCG and UAER decreased,which showed statistical differences within the group(P0.05), but no difference between the two groups (P0. 05), respectively. No significant adverse events were reported in valsartan-treated patients but with 3 cases of severe cough in fosinopriltreated patients. Conclusion: Valsartan therapy can steadily control blood pressure,and show better tolerability in aged patients with mild to moderate hypertension.