Effect of amlodipine versus bisoprolol in hypertensive patients on maintenance hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular hypertrophy and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) are surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the dialysis population. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a calcium channel blocker-based antihypertensive regimen compared to a beta-blocker-based antihypertensive regimen on left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and ADMA levels in hypertensive patients on hemodialysis (HD). METHODS: This was a parallel-design, open-label, single-center randomized controlled trial on 46 hypertensive patients on maintenance HD, with no history of CVD. Patients were randomly assigned to receive amlodipine 10 mg/d (n = 23) or bisoprolol 10 mg/d (n = 23). Office-based blood pressure (BP) was targeted to ≤ 140/ 90 mm Hg. The outcome was the change in LVMI and ADMA from baseline to 6 months. RESULTS: Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics did not vary between groups. After 6 months of treatment, amlodipine-based therapy induced a greater reduction in LVMI from baseline than bisoprolol-based treatment (35 ± 34.2 vs 9.8 ± 35.9 gm/m2; P = .017). A similar reduction in the mean BP occurred with treatment in both groups. ADMA concentration decreased significantly from baseline in the amlodipine group (0.75 ± 0.73 to 0.65 ± 0.67 nmol/mL; P = .001), but increased nonsignificantly in the bisoprolol group (0.64 ± 0.61 to 0.78 ± 0.64 nmol/mL; P = .052). CONCLUSION: This study showed that compared to a bisoprolol-based regimen, an amlodipine-based antihypertensive regimen resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LVMI and ADMA levels from baseline in hypertensive patients on HD despite similar BP reduction in both groups. These findings support the re-evaluation of amlodipine as a potential first-line antihypertensive treatment in patients on HD without previous CVD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT04085562, registered September 2019.