Does the addition of antihypertensive monotherapy to nutritional-hygienic therapy improve left ventricular mass reduction in patients with mild hypertension?
Nutritional-hygienic intervention alone is as effective as adding most antihypertensive monotherapies for reducing left ventricular mass in mild hypertension.
NH intervention with emphasis on weight loss and reduction of dietary sodium is as effective as NH intervention plus pharmacological treatment in reducing echocardiographically determined LVM, despite a smaller decrease in blood pressure in the NH intervention only group. A possible exception is that the addition of diuretic (chlorthalidone) may have a modest additional effect on reducing LVM.
Liebson et al. (Wed,) studied this question.