Antihypertensive drugs III: the thiazides

Chlorothiazide (Saluric - MSD) and other thiazide diuretics have been available for a sufficient number of years to demonstrate their usefulness in the management of hypertensive disease. In controlled studies, thiazide drugs alone, at the dosage level of one gram of chlorothiazide or its equivalent per day (see table below), lower the diastolic blood pressure by approximately 10 to 15 mm Hg. In the asymptomatic patient with moderate and non-progressive hypertension (diastolic pressure 110–120) a thiazide is considered by many investigators to be the drug of choice.