Effect of tripamide on glucose tolerance in patients with hypertension

The effects of tripamide and hydrochlorothiazide on blood pressure and glucose tolerance were studied in 20 hypertensive patients, half of whom had type II diabetes mellitus. Each patient underwent intravenous glucose tolerance testing before and after 4 weeks of treatment with tripamide, 10 mg, and, at a separate time, hydrochlorothiazide, 50 mg. Both tripamide and hydrochlorothiazide lowered blood pressure; for both drugs, the magnitude of the reduction in mean arterial pressure was positively correlated with the pretreatment mean arterial pressure. Hydrochlorothiazide produced a greater fall in serum potassium than did tripamide. In the nondiabetics, neither drug produced a significant change in the glucose disappearance curve or the plasma insulin response. In the diabetics, hydrochlorothiazide produced an increase in serum glucose levels, but the plasma insulin response, which was blunted in comparison to the nondiabetics, did not change. Tripamide did not affect serum glucose or plasma insulin levels in either group of patients. Tripamide at a dose of 10 mg daily does not affect glucose tolerance in either nondiabetic hypertensive patients or patients with type II diabetes mellitus.