scholarly journals Oral drugs for hypertensive urgencies: systematic review and meta-analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 366-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana Mendes Souza ◽  
Rachel Riera ◽  
Humberto Saconato ◽  
Adriana Demathé ◽  
Álvaro Nagib Atallah

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Hypertensive urgencies are defined as severe elevations in blood pressure without evidence of acute or progressive target-organ damage. The need for treatment is considered urgent but allows for slow control using oral or sublingual drugs. If the increase in blood pressure is not associated with risk to life or acute target-organ damage, blood pressure control must be implemented slowly over 24 hours. For hypertensive urgencies, it is not known which class of antihypertensive drug provides the best results and there is controversy regarding when to use antihypertensive drugs and which ones to use in these situations. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness and safety of oral drugs for hypertensive urgencies. METHODS: This systematic review of the literature was developed at the Brazilian Cochrane Center, and in the Discipline of Emergency Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina (Unifesp-EPM), in accordance with the methodology of the Cochrane Collaboration. RESULTS: Sixteen randomized clinical trials including 769 participants were selected. They showed that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors had a superior effect in treating hypertensive urgencies, evaluated among 223 participants. The commonest adverse event for calcium channel blockers were headache (35/206), flushing (17/172) and palpitations (14/189). For angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, the principal side effect was bad taste (25/38). CONCLUSIONS: There is important evidence in favor of the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors for treating hypertensive urgencies, compared with calcium channel blockers, considering the better effectiveness and the lower frequency of adverse effects (like headache and flushing).

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 1076-1076
Author(s):  
VIVIAN REZNIK ◽  
WILLIAM GRISWOLD ◽  
STANLEY MENDOZA

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors are effective at lowering blood pressure in the neonate and the child. However, these drugs, when used for the treatment of hypertension in the premature infant, must be used with caution to avoid the complications that are well documented in the literature. All of the infants described in the article by Perlman and Volpe had extreme hypotension and oligunia. A group of nine infants with renal failure complicating captopril therapy were recently reported from the same institution.


2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (43) ◽  
pp. 1695-1700
Author(s):  
Veronika Szentes ◽  
Gabriella Kovács ◽  
Csaba András Dézsi

Diabetes mellitus as comorbidity is present in 20–25% of patients suffering from high blood pressure. Because simultaneous presence of these two diseases results in a significant increase of cardiovascular risk, various guidelines focus greatly on the anti-hyperintensive treatment of patients with diabetes. Combined drug therapy is usually required to achieve the blood pressure target value of <140/85 mmHg defined for patients with diabetes, which must be based on angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. These can be/must be combined with low dose, primarily thiazid-like diuretics, calcium channel blockers with neutral metabolic effect, and further options include the addition of beta blockers, imidazolin-l-receptor antagonists, or alpha-1-adrenoreceptor blockers. Evidence-based guidelines are obviously present in local practice. Although most of the patients receive angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor+indapamid or angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor+calcium channel blocker combined therapy with favorable metabolic effects, yet the use of angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitors containing hidrochlorotiazide having diabetogenic potencial, and angiotensin receptor blocker fixed combinations is still widespread. Similarly, interesting therapeutic practice can be observed with the use of less differentiated beta blockers, where the 3rd generation carvediolol and nebivolol are still in minority. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(43), 1695–1700.


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