[Antihypertensive treatment with metoprolol: haemodynamic reactions in hypertensives with normal left ventricular...

The haemodynamic effects of a 14-day treatment regimen with 100 mg metoprolol daily were tested on 20 male hypertensives at rest and on exercise. Resting blood pressure had been reduced to comparable normal values with a reserpine combination drug in the control period. With metoprolol the exercise blood pressures were significantly lower than at rest (197/102 mm Hg and 230/109 mm Hg, respectively: P less than 0.001). The product of pressure and heart rate at rest and during exercise was lower (P less than 0.001). On the other hand, in 15 patients the pulmonary wedge pressure rose from 15.6 +/- 4.6 mm Hg to 31.4 +/- 5.4 mm Hg (P less than 0.001). The wedge pressure correlated closely (P less than 0.001) with changes in cardiac index.