ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Background: Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus also tend to coexist.The goal of antihypertensive therapy should consist of reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated withhypertension by a strategy focused on lowering blood pressure while minimizing the impact on other associatedcardiovascular risk factors like diabetes mellitus. Objectives: To observe and compare any change in serum glucosein patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension with Atenolol and Amlodipine. Setting: Department ofPharmacology and Therapeutics, Basic Medical Science Institute (BMSI), Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre(JPMC), Karachi. Period: 12 weeks (90 days) Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension (N=70)were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups, each comprised of 35 patients and were given tabletAtenolol 50/100mg once daily and tablet Amlodipine 5/10 mg once daily respectively for 90 days. Fasting Blood glucosewas measured on day of inclusion i.e. day 0, day 45 and day 90. At each fortnightly visit, blood pressure was recorded.Results: Atenolol raised mean blood glucose levels from baseline levels of 91.82±1.34 mg/dl to 99.73±1.33 mg/dl onday 90 (P<0.001) while Amlodipine had no significant effect on blood glucose level (P= N.S). Conclusion: Atenololmay not be a good choice for essential hypertensive patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus as it is found to impair the normal glucose metabolism. Long term clinical trials in diabetic patients are needed to confirm the observation of thepresent study.