[Diuretics and their current role in the treatment of essential arterial hypertension]

Diuretics have been most commonly used to treat hypertension in the last 25 years. Their tolerance is good, they have been effective specially in negroes, older and obese patients and they are relatively inexpensive. The emergence of new and more potent drugs: beta blockers, calcium antagonists, and ACE inhibitors, has led to a decrease in diuretic use. Hyperglycemia and lipid disorders induced by diuretics have been invoked to explain the lack of effect on coronary mortality among treated hypertensive patients. Hypokalemia induced by diuretics has been suspected as the cause for sudden deaths. However, these effects are not sufficiently proven and do not warrant, at present, the elimination of diuretics in the treatment of hypertension.