Efficacy of enalapril as antihypertensive monotherapy given once daily evaluated by 24 hour ambulatory by monitoring

ABSTRACT

This efficacy trial was conducted on 18 patients selected from the out patient department with repeated pre-treatment blood pressure over a period of one month, measured by conventional mercury sphygmomanometer, above the 140/90 mmHg criterion. After a wash out period of two weeks Enalapril was started on a once daily regime at a dose of 5mg per day. The patients were monitored and the dose of Enalapril was increased by 5mg on subsequent visits till the blood pressure was controlled or a maximum dose of 40mg per day was reached. 24 hours ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was conducted afterwards. 15 patients [83.33%] were controlled on an average dose of 22.36mg per day. The time taken on average, to control blood pressure was 26.06 days. The incidence of side effects was 5.55%, and they were transient. In no patient, therapy with Enalapril was stopped because of serious side effects. Pre-treatment blood pressure values were evaluated using the t-Test and showed a significant p value of < 0.001 at 95% confidence interval. The ambulatory and post-treatment blood pressure monitoring data showed adequate control over 24 hours