ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of valsartan (Diovan?) 80 mg tablet in the treatment of mild to moderate, uncomplicated essential hypertension in Filipino patients.METHODS: Patients who were 18-80 years of age, male or female diagnosed with essential hypertension with mean sitting diastolic blood pressure (SDBP)> 90mmHg to 115mmHg were given valsartan? 80mg tablet daily for a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 8 weeks of treatment.RESULTS: A total of 3224 evaluable patients were included in the study. Almost forty percent (39.6%) of patients are newly-diagnosed hypertensives, 25.8% have been hypertensives for 1 to 2 years,17% for 3-5 years, and 17.6% for more than 5 years. The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) at baseline was 156.9 mmHg ± 15.4 mmHg while the mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at baseline was 98.7 mmHg ± 6.4 mmHg. The SBP decreased at visit 2 to a mean of 135.3 mmHg ± 12.6 mmHg which reduction was very highly significant (paired t-test= 9.13, p