[Side-effects on longterm treatment with antihypertensives (author's transl)]

Unspecific complaints as a result of lowering the blood pressure and substance-specific side-effects may occur during antihypertensive therapy. The frequency of the side-effects depends on the substance used (10 to 50%) and on the dose. An individual therapy, which in most cases involves the use of several substances, can reduce the frequency of side-effects decisively. With optimal therapy the ratio of benefits (= prevention of cardiovascular diseases) to side-effects (= sum of undesirable reactions) is completely acceptable in the treatment of high blood pressure.