Background: A dry, nonproductive cough is a common phenomenon during angiotensin convertase inhibitor (ACE-I) therapy and may result in treatment discontinuation. Patient compliance during antihypertensive therapy is of crucial importance since treatment discontinuation increases risk of cardiovascular events. Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to assess tolerability and safety of angiotensin receptor blocker, telmisartan, in hypertensive patients who did not tolerate their previous ACE-I treatment due to cough. Methods: This was a multi-center, non-controlled, observational study. Results: A total of 2498 patients were enrolled. At initial visit majority of study subjects reported cough which was ascribed by a physician to previous ACE-I use. Cough intensity was significantly correlated with ACE-I dose. Substitution of ACE-I with telmisartan resulted in marked reduction of the frequency of cough after approx. 3 months of observation. Mean cough frequency at the initial and at the follow-up visit was 74,2% and 2,92%, respectively (p<0,001). The efficacy of telmisartan in cough elimination was slightly but significantly lower in patients with asthma, bronchitis and with gastric reflux. Gender and smoking (neither present or in history) did not influence the effect of study drug on cough intensity. Conclusions: In this non-interventional study, telmisartan proved to be generally well tolerated and highly effective in alleviation of dry cough resulting from previous ACE-I therapy.
Lietz et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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