Drugs significantly lower blood pressure even without adherence to low-salt diet
MONDAY, June 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A low-salt diet further improves the efficacy of antihypertensive drug regimens, according to a study published May 29 in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Jing Wang, from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in China, and colleagues randomized 180 patients with mild to moderate primary hypertension to a low-salt diet (LSD; 2.3 g sodium/day) group or a non-low-salt diet (NLSD) group. Each group included three antihypertensive drug regimens: losartan 100 mg; losartan 50 mg/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg; or irbesartan 150 mg/HCTZ 12.5 mg.
The researchers found that after two months of follow-up there were significant reductions in office blood pressure (BP), 24-hour mean BP, and morning BP in both groups (P ≤ 0.01). Among the three LSD subgroups there were no significant differences. The losartan 50 mg/HCTZ 12.5 mg and the irbesartan 150 mg/HCTZ 12.5 mg subgroups showed similar antihypertensive efficacy in the NLSD group, with significant reductions in BP compared to the losartan 100 mg group. Patients in the LSD had significant BP reductions compared to the NLSD group.
“We concluded that this LSD exerts synergistic BP-reducing effects,” the authors write.
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