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Lofexidine in the Treatment of Hypertension: A Twice‐Daily versus Once‐Daily Dose Comparison with 24‐Hour Blood Pressure Monitoring
Author(s) -
GARRETT BRUCE N.,
KAPLAN NORMAN M.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
the journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1552-4604
pISSN - 0091-2700
DOI - 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1981.tb05697.x
Subject(s) - plasma renin activity , blood pressure , supine position , medicine , anesthesia , epinephrine , placebo , regimen , mean blood pressure , renin–angiotensin system , heart rate , alternative medicine , pathology
Lofexidine, an antihypertensive imidazoline derivative, was given to ten hypertensives on both a twice‐daily and once‐daily regimen, using routine blood pressure measurements and 24‐hour Remler recording. Plasma renin activity and catecholamines were measured. After a dose titration with twice‐daily doses, the total twice‐daily dose was given once daily for two weeks and the drug abruptly withdrawn. Mean placebo blood pressure was 136/104 mm Hg supine. After twice‐daily therapy, this fell to 118/86 mm Hg, and upon conversion to once‐daily therapy, it rose to 126/89 mm Hg. With the Remler recorder, mean 24‐hour blood pressure was 125/89 during the twice‐daily therapy, 133/94 mm Hg during once‐daily therapy, and 142/99 mm Hg on the day after acute withdrawal; i.e., evaluation in all three treatment periods showed a lack of sustained control with both a wide range and high frequency of blood pressure variation. Plasma renin activity and plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine did not change significantly during the study.