The influence of age on the pharmacokinetics and antihypertensive responses to dilevalol

Age may influence the response to antihypertensive drug treatment either indirectly, by altering the plasma drug concentrations, or directly, by altering the nature and magnitude of the blood pressure reduction. This study investigates the effect of age on the pharmacokinetics and antihypertensive responses following acute and chronic treatment with dilevalol in 18 patients (age range 28-73 years) with essential hypertension. There were no significant age-related changes in pharmacokinetics for either acute or chronic treatment with dilevalol. Correspondingly, there was no evidence of any age-related difference in the antihypertensive response and, in absolute terms, this was slightly greater in the six oldest patients in whom blood pressure fell by 18/10 mmHg, supine, and 16/8 mmHg, erect, after the first dose of dilevalol, compared to 4/3 and 6/3 mmHg, respectively, in the six youngest patients. When allowance was made for the differences in starting (pretreatment) blood pressure, there was no significant difference in the antihypertensive response of the elderly compared to the young patients. This study has shown that the antihypertensive efficacy of dilevalol is not attenuated in the elderly and that there are no age-related differences either in pharmacokinetics or in antihypertensive responsiveness.