[Comparative study of various schedules of administration of propranolol to patients with stenocardia (a cooperative...

Forty-eight anginal patients (mean age: 50.3 +/- 1.6 years) were included in the study, carried out in 6 centres. Both the continuous regimen of propranolol (PR) administration (4 or 3 times daily) and the intermittent regimen (twice daily) were associated with a significant drop in the frequency of anginal attacks and the quantity of nitroglycerine pills consumed (p less than 0.05). PR, used for 12 weeks in a regimen, determined by means of paired bicycle ergometric tests, produced an antianginal effect in 85% of anginal patients, the effect being absolute in 35% of those. However, in the "twice-daily" regimen of PR administration, paired bicycle ergometry, conducted in the course of treatment, revealed that antianginal effect was not stable within 12 hours. Treatment courses with higher daily PR doses failed to produce any significant drop in the frequency of anginal attacks as compared to the effect, already achieved with an earlier dose.