Losartan for high blood pressure

Losartan, a specific blocker of angiotensin II (AT1) receptors, has demonstrated a potent antihypertensive effect with a good safety and tolerance profile. The glomerular effects of losartan could be useful in transplanted patients.

It is the first of a new class of drugs to be introduced for clinical use in hypertension. Losartan is an orally active agent that undergoes substantial first-pass metabolism by cytochrome P450 enzymes. It is converted, in part, to an active carboxylic acid metabolite that is responsible for most of the angiotensin II receptor antagonism that follows losartan treatment.

Angiotensin-II is a substance produced in the body which binds to receptors in blood vessels, causing them to tighten. This results in an increase in blood pressure. Losartan prevents the binding of angiotensin-II to these receptors, causing the blood vessels to relax which in turn lowers the blood pressure.

In patients with essential hypertension, once-daily doses of 50 or 100 mg losartan have been shown to effectively lower BP throughout the 24-hour dosing interval and to be well tolerated.
Losartan for high blood pressure

Amlodipine for high blood pressure

Hypertension and diabetes are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). These conditions often coexist, and hypertension occurs approximately twice as frequently in patients with diabetes as in those without.

Amlodipine should be considered a first-line antihypertensive agent. Amlodipine belongs to a group of medicines called calcium antagonists. It is used to treat:
• high blood pressure (hypertension).
• angina pectoris (pain in the chest caused by blockages in the arteries leading to the heart) or chest pain classed as vasospastic angina pectoris (or Prinzmetal’s angina).

Amlodipine is safe and effective when added to quinapril or losartan monotherapy to help lower BP toward therapeutic targets in patients with hypertension and diabetes.
Amlodipine for high blood pressure

Drug Treatment

Drug Treatment
You will probably be advised to have drug treatment for your high blood pressure if there is already evidence of damage to your arteries, brain, heart, eyes or kidneys or if you also have diabetes.

As a very rough guide, drug treatment is otherwise rarely justified unless your average blood pressure (averaged from at least three reading on separate days) is at least 160/100 mmHg.

While you don’t need to know exactly what these figures mean, you should know what they are in your own case, just as you do your own height and weight.

This threshold figure (plus or minus 5 mmHg either way) is based on evidence from large controlled trials in Britain, Australia, Scandinavia and the USA, which have shown worthwhile saving of life in many thousands of people.

The benefits of drug treatment are greatest in the people with the highest pressures, or those who already have evidence of organ damage.

Most of the benefits has been in reducing strokes, heart failure and kidney damage; the effects on coronary heart attacks have been much smaller (more important ways to prevent heart attacks are to stop smoking, maintain regular exercise and stick to diet low in saturated fats).
Drug Treatment