Biochemical, Endocrine, and Mineral Effects of Indapamide in Black Women

Black women with established essential hypertension, without renal insufficiency or diabetes mellitus, were withdrawn from their usual antihypertensive therapy for 2-3 weeks prior to entry into a study to evaluate pertinent biochemical and mineral effects of indapamide treatment. Twenty patients with a sitting diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mm Hg had baseline measurements of plasma total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, uric acid, potassium, magnesium, calcium, selenium, renin, norepinephrine, whole blood ionized calcium, and glycosylated hemoglobin. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was calculated by the Friedewald equation. The patients were placed on a fixed daily dose of 2.5 mg indapamide. Blood pressure and blood tests were repeated at 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure were both lowered significantly at week 12. Plasma renin activity was significantly increased. There was no significant change in norepinephrine, glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, uric acid, ionized calcium, calcium, triglycerides, potassium, magnesium, or selenium. Total cholesterol increased with an increase in both high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and LDL cholesterol; however, these increases did not alter significantly either the total/HDL cholesterol or LDL/HDL cholesterol ratios. It is concluded that 2.5 mg of indapamide per day effectively lowers blood pressure with no significant adverse metabolic effects.