Overall safety of terazosin as an antihypertensive agent

The safety of terazosin, an effective agent for the treatment of hypertension, was assessed by analyzing data from 1,006 hypertensive patients who were enrolled in short-term and/or long-term studies. The total experience with terazosin in this article represents 422.5 patient-years. Changes in pulse rate measurements from pretreatment to posttreatment were not significantly different between the terazosin- and placebo-treated patients (-1.0 beat per minute for the terazosin group and -1.0 beat per minute for the placebo group, in the supine position). Dizziness, headache, and asthenia were the most commonly reported adverse experiences among all terazosin-treated patients, although the incidence of headache in placebo-controlled trials was not significantly different between the terazosin and placebo groups. As a whole, patients receiving terazosin had a tendency to gain small amounts of weight (2 pounds). In addition, there was a trend for slight decreases in hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, total protein, and albumin levels in those patients who received terazosin, suggesting hemodilution. Overall, terazosin was shown to be safe in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.