Furosemide Compared With Hydrochlorothiazide

To the Editor.— The recent article by Araoye et al (240:1863, 1978), Furosemide Compared With Hydrochlorothiazide: Long-term Treatment of Hypertension, contains misleading statements, and the conclusions drawn are not supported by the data presented. The abstract gives in a rather categorical fashion the impression that the authors have shown hydrochlorothiazide to be a clearly superior antihypertensive agent. An examination of the article shows that this is certainly not the case. Patients were recruited for this study on the basis of their diastolic blood pressures (BPs) (between 95 and 119 mm Hg). The authors' conclusions of increased efficacy of hydrochlorothiazide over furosemide are based entirely on observations of systolic BP. It may be valid to draw conclusions (if the data analysis had been performed properly) on the effect of these drugs on systolic pressure; it is, however, entirely misleading to make sweeping statements concerning antihypertensive effects when the primary selection criterion