Left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients in Indian primary care: prevalence and effect of treatment with sustained release indapamide*

Objective: Epidemiologic studies indicate an ethnic determinant of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but its prevalence in hypertensive Asian Indians at diagnosis is not known. The observation that LVH regression reduces cardiovascular risk independent of blood pressure, suggests that initial antihypertensive treatment, which also regresses LVH is a desirable goal. This study investigates the prevalence of LVH and its regression with indapamide sustained release (Natrilix SR) in untreated Indian hypertensive patients managed in the primary care setting.Design and methods: Randomly selected physicians serving a defined population recruited untreated hypertensive patients to determine prevalence of LVH. All patients then received indapamide SR treatment for 6months. LVH was assessed by echocardiography. All measurements were centralized and interpreted by a single blinded observer.Main outcome measures: The primary treatment outcomes were the percentage of patients whose LVH regressed with treatment and t...