Treatment of essential hypertension with captopril in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The effects of captopril have been studied in 10 patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with moderate essential hypertension. Captopril was given as monotherapy (75-100 mg/day) over a period of 60 days. The following effects of captopril were seen in these patients: a significant reduction of systolic blood pressure (P less than 0.01) and of diastolic blood pressure (P less than 0.001), both in the supine and in the standing position; a significant increase of the vital capacity (P less than 0.05); no significant change in other various respiratory function tests or of heart rate, and no side effects, including bronchospasm in the patients sensitive to bronchodilator drugs. The present data suggest that in COPD patients with essential hypertension, captopril is an effective hypotensive agent and has no adverse effects in pulmonary function.