A long-term study of labetalol in general practice

1 Forty-one patients with mild to moderate hypertension have been treated with labetalol for up to 5 years. 2 Mean BP before treatment was 180/107 mm Hg, after 2--3 yr treatment was 136/81 mmHg and after 5 yr was 136/74 mmHg. 3 One patient developed a licheniform rash and two patients have died of myocardial infarction. No other side-effects, not already observed in a previously reported double-blind trial, have emerged.