Efficacy and Reduced Metabolic Side Effects of a 15-mg Chlorthalidone Formulation in the Treatment of Mild Hypertension
A Multicenter Study
- Suman Vardan, MD;
- Kishan G. Mehrotra, PhD;
- Sakti Mookherjee, MD, MRCP;
- Gerald A. Willsey, PA;
- John D. Gens, PA;
- David E. Green, PA
- From the Sections of Cardiology (Drs Vardan and Mookherjee) and General Medicine (Dr Vardan) and the Ambulatory Care Service (Mr Willsey, Mr Gens, and Mr Green), Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical and Health Science Centers, State University of New York; and the School of Computer and Information Science, Syracuse University (Dr Mehrotra), Syracuse, NY.
Abstract
We compared a new low-dose chlorthalidone formulation consisting of 15 mg of this compound and a biocompatible polymer in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial with the standard 25-mg dose of chlorthalidone in the management of mild essential hypertension. Two hundred twenty-two patients, ranging in age from 21 to 69 years, with an average standing diastolic blood pressure between 91 and 104 mm Hg participated in this trial. At the end of 12 weeks, the percentage of patients who had a decrease in their standing diastolic blood pressure of 5 mm Hg or more was statistically similar in both of the active-treatment groups and significantly different from the placebo group. With the lower-dose compound, the metabolic side effect of hypokalemia was less of a problem and there was no evidence of glucose intolerance. Thus, this new 15-mg formulation of chlorthalidone appears to be an effective antihypertensive agent with fewer metabolic side effects compared with the standard 25-mg dose in the management of mild essential hypertension.
(JAMA 1987;258:484-488)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to the Hypertension Clinic, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 800 Irving Ave, Syracuse, NY 13210 (Dr Vardan).
