Captopril as a replacement therapy in hypertension improving quality of life--a multicentre study.

A multicentre study was undertaken to determine whether side effects induced by hypotensive drugs could be reduced by replacement with low dose captopril. There were 100 patients on combinations of drugs, including diuretics, beta-blocking agents, methyldopa, clonidine and vasodilators. A questionnarie to obtain information on quality of life was completed by the patients. Each patient had major drugs, possibly responsible for side effects, withdrawn. Captopril was added at an initial dose of 12.5 up to 25 mg b.i.d. and titrated to a maximum of 50 mg t.i.d., until the blood pressure was equal to or lower than the level on entry into the study. Blood pressure was measured every two weeks and questionnaries were completed a number of times during the treatment period and scored at random, not in chronological order. A marked drop in blood pressure was obtained: mean systolic blood pressure went down from 173.4 +/- 2 to 154.5 +/- 2 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure dropped from 104.5 +/- 11 to 9l.5 +/- 12 mm Hg. Neither tachycardia nor orthostasis was observed. Side effects, including inability to concentrate, nightmares, dizziness and sexual dysfunction, were reduced in 36% of the patients. Captopril itself produced no significant additional adverse reactions. It is concluded that captopril is a safe and effective drug, which can replace antihypertensive drugs that have deleterious side effects.