-Efficacy and safety of using amlodipine in treatment of mild and moderate essential hypertension-.
UNLABELLED: The present study aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerance of amlodipine (Norvasc-Pfizer) in the treatment of 152 patients with mild and moderate essential hypertension. This study was a multicenter and open trial and lasted 24 weeks. During 7 visits arterial blood pressure, heart rate, body weight and side effects of amlodipine were registered. The dosage of amlodipine was 5 to 10 mg/day. 59 patients received also other antihypertensive drugs in doses used before starting amlodipine treatment. 57 patients needed changes in amlodipine dosing from 5 to 10 mg/day. During the study no significant changes in body weight or heart rate were noticed. Mean arterial blood pressure dropped significantly from 123.9 +/- 0.6 at the beginning of the study to 102.3 +/- 0.8 mm Hg at the end of this study. During this study a total of 26 dropouts were noticed. The reasons of these dropouts were the following: side effects--6 patients, noncompliance--7 patients, insufficient hypotensive effect--7 patients, unknown reason--5 patients, hypertensive crisis--1 patient. The following side effects were observed ocdemata of the legs in 10.5%, headaches in 2% of patients. One patient complained of increased susceptibility to weather changes, 1 patient had nausea and dizziness and 1 had headaches, pains in the legs and chest and nausea. All these side effects were mild and transient. CONCLUSION: Results obtained in this trial suggest, that amlodipine is an efficient and well tolerated antihypertensive drug in patients with mild and moderate essential