Where does the evidence lead us for the proper use of angiotensin II inhibitors in the management of cardiovascular disease?

摘要

Angiotensin receptor blockers, or ARBs as they are popularly known, have become popular agents in the treatment of hypertension around the globe. They are blessed with being extremely well tolerated by nearly all patients, with side effects reported at the same level as placebo, or even lower in some individual studies [1]. This tolerability makes them very useful agents in our efforts to control hypertension. Over the decades of their use, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or ACE-I agents, have been shown to reduce a wide variety of cardiovascular and renal events in at-risk patients. A hope has developed, possibly even an expectation, that the ARB agents, with their essential lack of side effects, could be equivalent to the ACE-I agents in protecting these at-risk patients.