Lercanidipine is an effective and well tolerated antihypertensive drug regardless the cardiovascular risk profile: the LAURA Study

Summary To determine whether the antihypertensive effectiveness of lercanidipine was independent of the different cardiovascular risk levels. Patients with treated or untreated mild‐to‐moderate essential hypertension were included in a multicentre, prospective, non‐comparative, open‐label study. Patients received lercanidipine (10 mg/day, uptitrated to 20 mg/day) during 6 months. A total of 3175 patients, age 63 ± 10 years, 51% women, were included. The cardiovascular risk was low in 237 patients, medium in 1396, high in 722, and very high in 820. At baseline, blood pressure (BP) was 159.5 ± 11.7/95.2 ± 7.4 mmHg. BP was progressively higher according to increase in cardiovascular risk. After 6 months of treatment, BP was 136.0 ± 9.7/79.7 ± 6.8 mmHg. The decrease in systolic BP and diastolic BP at each follow‐up visit compared with baseline was statistically significant both in the intergroup and intragroup comparisons (p < 0.001). Mean decreases of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were −18.5/−13.8 mmHg in the low risk group, −23/−15.2 mmHg in the medium risk group, −24.4/−16.1 mmHg in the high risk group, and −27.4/−17.4 mmHg in the very high risk group. Most frequent side effects were oedema (5.1%), headache (3.3%), flushes (2.5%), and asthenia (1%). Only 1.7% of patients discontinued antihypertensive medication because of adverse events. Tolerability of lercanidipine was independent of the cardiovascular risk group. Lercanidipine was effective and well‐tolerated in patients with mild‐to‐moderate hypertension in the daily practice. The effectiveness and safety of the drug were independent of the degree of cardiovascular risk.