A new dimension in hypertension management with the amlodipine/perindopril combination

Recent guidelines are consistent in acknowledging that most hypertensive patients need at least two drugs for optimal blood pressure (BP) control. Trial data are available to support the use of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocker (ie, an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker), plus a diuretic, a RAS blocker plus a calcium channel blocker (CCB), and a CCB plus a diuretic. The ACCOMPLISH trial demonstrated somewhat convincingly that an ACE inhibitor/CCB is superior to the same ACE inhibitor plus a thiazide. In the ASCOT trial, amlodipine/perindopril was superior to beta-blocker/thiazide in its effects on all major cardiovascular outcomes and new-onset diabetes. Further substudies of ASCOT provided plausible explanations for the benefits of amlodipine/perindopril strategy. In the CAFE substudy, amlodipine/perindopril was significantly more effective in the reduction of central BP as compared to atenolol/bendroflumethiazide, despite similar brachial BP reduction. More recently, analysis of long-term BP variability provided a further explanation for the reduction of cardiovascular events with amlodipine/perindopril in ASCOT. Thus, the combination of perindopril and amlodipine seems an ideal logical evidence-based pair of antihypertensive agents to select.