Effect of lacidipine and nifedipine GITS on platelet function in patients with essential hypertension.

With the aim of evaluating the effects on blood pressure, platelet function and insulin sensitivity of the dihydropiridines lacidipine and nifedipine GITS, a parallel double-blind study was carried out in a group of 20 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. They received a placebo for 4 weeks; then were divided at random into two groups of 10 patients each. Nifedipine GITS, 30 mg and lacidipine, 4 mg, were given during 16 weeks of active treatment. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured at the clinic in supine, sitting and standing positions, 24 +/- 1 h after the last dose. After the placebo and active phases were carried out, a platelet aggregation test was performed to determine platelet malondialdehyde production and a tolerance to 100 g of glucose by measuring glucaemia and plasma insulin. Both drugs reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the same level, however there were observable differences in the rate of reduction. The nifedipine GITS reduced supine systolic blood pressure by 25 mm Hg in the first week, while the lacidipine did so by 11 mm Hg. At the end of the study period nifedipine reduced supine systolic blood pressure by 28 mm Hg and lacidipine by 20 mm Hg. Heart rate was increased slightly but significantly in the nifedipine GITS group only in the standing position. Both drugs reduced platelet aggregation ex vivo only marginally but they modified the malondialdehyde production, indicating an action on the arachidonic acid metabolic pathway.

[Relationship of several physico-chemical components in drinking water, hypertension and cardiovascular disease mortality]. / Estudio de la relación entre algunos componentes físico-químicos en el agua de consumo, hipertension y muerte por enfermedades cardiovasculares.

The quality of water analyzed in 60 locations for hardness, magnesium and iodine, for its possible relationship with essential hypertension, ignored in case-control models, and for its relationship with mortality due to cardiovascular diseases. The study of the independence between each of the variables and the number of unknown hypertense persons shows a statistically significant association. For each of the factors, an estimate was made of the relative risk and the etiological fraction in the displays, with their confidence intervals. The highest degree of association was with low concentrations of magnesium, associated with a risk of hypertension which was 3.61 times greater. The association holds for deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, only for hardness and magnesium.