Advertisement

The research involving more than 700 people found that 18 weeks of treatment with the combination pill of irbesartan (an angiotensin II receptor blocker) and hydrochlorothiazide (a diuretic) reduced systolic blood pressure to a desirable level in 77 percent of the study participants, and cut diastolic pressure to acceptable levels in 83 percent of the patients.

Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading and is more difficult to bring down than diastolic blood pressure.

Higher percentage
"The percentage of patients whose blood pressure was controlled in this study was much higher compared to other combination therapy trials," Dr Elijah Saunders, one of the study's two principal investigators and professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

The study was funded by the Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi-Synthelabo Partnership, which makes the combination pill used in the study. The findings were presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Hypertension in San Francisco. - (HealthDayNews)
 

Print this article on

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent