Short acting dihydropyridine (vasodilating) calcium channel blockers for hypertension: is there a risk?

摘要

There is a wide choice of drugs for hypertension. To date, however, only thiazide diuretics and (3 blockers have been shown to prevent myocardial infarction and stroke and reduce mortality in properly randomised and blinded studies. The efficacy of newer drugs in these respects (the calcium channel blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors) has not been proved because no comparative trial in hypertensive patients has been conducted. It is much more difficult and expensive to conduct trials of these newer drugs. Giving a placebo to controls is.no longer ethical, and new trials must therefore be enormous if they are to have the power to detect any differential effect.