[Does long-term blood pressure reduction in patients with essential hypertension improve concomitant metabolic...

Aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of metabolic abnormalities in patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension and to assess the effects of a blood pressure lowering drug therapy on the respective variables.

Twenty-six hypertensive subjects (12 female, 14 male) were included in the study. Twenty-one normotensive subjects (9 female, 12 male) served as a control group. During an oral glucose tolerance test the hypertensive subjects had higher blood glucose and serum insulin levels than the controls. The hypertensive patients also showed higher triglyceride concentrations and a more abdominal pattern of body fat distribution. In addition, the women with essential hypertension exhibited a higher free androgen index (32.2 +/- 14.8 vs 20.1 +/- 15.0%, p < 0.05) than the women of the control group. After a 3 to 6 month treatment period with nifedipine or nitrendipine the elevated blood pressure of the hypertensives was significantly reduced. In a second glucose tolerance test carried out in 13 patients blood glucose, serum insulin and triglyceride concentrations were significantly lower compared to the pretreatment period. The other metabolic and hormonal variables remained unchanged.

This observation raises the question, whether a long-term vasodilatating antihypertensive therapy can improve the metabolic abnormalities found in patients with essential hypertension.