AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING INDICATORS IN MIDDLE-AGED AND ELDERLY HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS UNDER COMBINED ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY

Abstract

It is known that arterial hypertension affects 30-35% of adult population of industrialized countries, and its prevalence reaches 40-50% among the elderly. In recent years, the issue of optimizing of treatment of hypertension in elderly people has been discussed such as choice of effective antihypertensive drugs with the least number of side effects, prevention of complications, reduced mortality, improvement of quality of life. The aim of the study was to substantiate the antihypertensive efficacy of the combination of enalapril and amlodipine in middle-aged and elderly hypertensive patients. Material and methods. Indices of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were identified in 57 middle-aged patients (45-59 years) (group I) and 43 elderly patients (60-74 years) (group II), who underwent two-week in-patient treatment. All patients received the combined antihypertensive therapy (enalapril 10 mg twice daily and amlodipine 5 mg daily) for 2 weeks. And they were divided into 2 groups of 24 hours day's profile of blood pressure: dippers and non-dippers. Results. The combination of enalapril and amlodipine in elderly patients reduced the average daily diastolic blood pressure by 20,3% (p<0,05). Instead, in middle-aged patients there was the decrease in the average daily and the maximal daily systolic blood pressure by 17,3% (p<0,001) and 7,8% (p<0,05) and diastolic blood pressure respectively − by 23,2% (p<0,001) and 11,8% (p<0,05). Conclusions. Therefore, combined antihypertensive therapy in the elderly for 14 days was insufficient to improve significantly ambulatory blood pressure monitoring indicators. Obviously, positive changes require longer treatment.

Keywords

• arterial hypertension, essential hypertension, blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, combined antihypertensive therapy.