Blood pressure, heart rate and A‐V conduction responses to nicardipine in hypertensive patients receiving atenolol.

Abstract 1 The antihypertensive effect of the combined use of the new calcium channel blocker nicardipine and atenolol was assessed in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving twenty hypertensive patients. 2 Atenolol 100 mg once daily was given to all patients. In addition, either placebo or nicardipine, in increasing doses (5-20 mg three times daily), was allocated randomly to the patients. 3 Compared with placebo, nicardipine had an additional dose-dependent, blood-pressure-lowering effect in the hypertensive patients who had been pretreated with atenolol. An increase in the heart rate was not observed, suggesting that atenolol prevented reflex activation of sympathetic nerve tone caused by the vasodilating properties of nicardipine. 4 The combination of both atenolol and nicardipine was well tolerated by all patients; side effects were minor and did not cause discontinuation of the treatment. No effects on A-V conduction were observed. 5 It is concluded that the combined administration of nicardipine and atenolol is a useful treatment for hypertension that is well accepted by the patients.