Isradipine in the treatment of mild-to-moderate hypertension. The Austrian Multicenter Isradipine cum Spirapril Study (AMICUS).

The objective of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of 1.25 to 2.5 mg of isradipine twice daily in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension, as seen in general practice. A total of 595 patients were treated for 6 months with an initial dose of isradipine at 1.25 mg twice daily. This dose was doubled if normotension (diastolic blood pressure [DBP] < or = 90 mm Hg) was not achieved after 4 weeks of treatment (n = 327). If, after 8 weeks, blood pressure was still not normalized, either the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor spirapril at 3 mg (n = 58) or the beta-blocker pindolol at 5 mg (n = 54) was added to the treatment. After 24 weeks, the mean blood pressure decrease with isradipine at 1.25 mg twice daily was 28.5/19.0 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure (SBP)/DBP and, with 2.5 mg isradipine twice daily, 28.4/18.5 mm Hg. There was no relevant change in heart rate. The overall normalization rate for all 595 patients was 78.2%. Side-effects that were considered related or possibly related to treatment were reported in 73 patients (12.3%). Treatment with isradipine plus either spirapril or pindolol was discontinued in 32 patients (5.4%) because of side-effects related, or possibly related, to the study treatment. Blood pressure was also self-recorded in a subgroup of 45 patients. The self-recorded values were 11/6 mm Hg (SBP/DBP) lower than the respective causal readings at the start of active treatment. However, this difference disappeared completely after 8 weeks of treatment.