Irbesartan in treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of irbesartan for Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. METHODS: Patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were recruited. The antihypertensive effects of irbesartan were compared with losartan in double-blind, randomized and controlled clinical trials with double-dummy technique. Following a 2 wk placebo lead-in period, 58 patients received irbesartan 75 mg, po, qd and 59 patients received losartan 50 mg, po, qd for 4 wk, then, followed by dose doubling for another 4 wk in those patients with seated diastolic blood pressure≥12 kPa. At the same time, 17 patients taking irbesartan and 14 patients taking losartan received ambulatory 24 h blood pressure monitoring before and after 8 wk treatment. RESULTS: After 8 wk of therapy, there was no significant difference in the efficiency between irbesartan and losartan (83 % vs 78 %, P0.05). The trough to peak ratios for SBP / DBP were calculated as 81 % / 70 % for irbesartan and 75 % / 71 % for losartan. Dizziness was the most common adverse reaction of both drugs. CONCLUSION: Irbesartan is an effective, safe and well tolerated drug in mild to moderate hypertensive patients.