A Comparative Study of Nicardipine and Pindolol as Second-Line Treatments in Essential Hypertension

A controlled, randomized, single-blind, parallel-group study compared the effects of nicardipine hydrochloride/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) with those of pindolol/HCTZ in treatment of essential hypertension. The study included 43 patients aged 30–64 years with supine diastolic blood pressures between 95 and 125 mmHg at baseline. Patients initially received 50 mg/day HCTZ for 6 weeks and those patients whose diastolic blood pressure remained at or above 90 mmHg at week 6 (n = 29) completed a 6-week comparative phase in which they were given, in addition, either 30 mg nicardipine hydrochloride or 5 mg pindolol three times daily. Nicardipine was more effective than pindolol as a second-line treatment in controlling blood pressure but, because patients who were treated with nicardipine/HCTZ had higher baseline blood pressures, significance was lost when results were adjusted for the baseline blood pressure values. Treatment was described as ‘very good’ by 71.4% of patients in the nicardipine/HCTZ group and by 53.9% of those in the pindolol/HCTZ group; thus, both second-line antihypertensives were well accepted. Although 45% of patients in of each treatment group reported treatment-related adverse events, none experienced postural hypotension and no adverse event was unexpected.