Thiazide-like versus Thiazide Diuretics — Finally, an Answer?

The treatment of hypertension has extended millions of lives since the mid-20th century, when hypotensive medications were few. Since then, therapeutic options have expanded to include multiple classes and scores of individual antihypertensive agents — diuretics, beta-blockers, renin–angiotensin system blockers (angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers, foremost), calcium-channel blockers, alpha-blockers, α2-receptor agonists, combined alpha- and beta-blockers, vasodilators, and centrally acting compounds. Some of the antihypertensives that were approved first remain in use, including chlorthalidone, a thiazide-like sulfonamide-derived diuretic, which was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1960.1 Chlorthalidone was used heavily over the ensuing 20 . . .