Does transferring to Trasidrex improve blood pressure control and tolerability compared to the free combination of oxprenolol and cyclopenthiazide in patients with essential hypertension?
Switching from a free combination of oxprenolol and cyclopenthiazide to the fixed combination Trasidrex maintains tolerability and may marginally improve blood pressure control, possibly due to better compliance.
A multicentre, open study of general practice patients with essential hypertension who were currently being treated with oxprenolol and cyclopenthiazide was undertaken in which the patients were transferred to Trasidrex for 12 weeks. Weight, blood pressure, heart rate and side-effects were assessed pre-trial and at 4-week intervals. A global assessment was also made at the same time intervals. The mean serum potassium remained virtually unchanged after 12 weeks treatment with Trasidrex. Blood pressure control was marginally improved during the study and it is thought possible that better patient compliance might explain this. Trasidrex was tolerated equally as well as the free combination.
Ebbutt et al. (Thu,) studied this question.