Combined blood pressure therapy works well

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the most widespread of all cardiovascular diseases in the world. It is the leading cause of stroke and a major cause of heart attack.

In the United States alone, approximately 40 million people have high blood pressure. In the Philippines, it is estimated that 22 percent of the adult population has high blood pressure, the fifth leading cause of morbidity or illness among Filipinos.

Failure to bring down blood pressure to optional levels has been cited as a major reason for increased complications such as heart attack, stroke, heart and kidney failure.

Clinical trials have shown that adequate control of hypertension is achieved in only about 50 percent of patients receiving monotherapy or a single drug for lowering blood pressure.

Combination therapy, which may come as a fixed-dose combination in a single tablet, has been favored by many medical practitioners to enhance the efficacy of the drug and compliance by patients.

Combination therapy uses antihypertensive medications that are proven to work well together in a synergistic or complementary manner. Usually, drugs that control blood pressure via different mechanisms are combined in a single drug for optimal efficacy and tolerability. Relatively less side-effects are also experienced since a smaller dose of each of the component drugs is used.

One of the established treatments for hypertension is telmisartan, a drug which controls hypertension by blocking the effects of a hormone called angiotensin II. This hormone constricts the blood vessels, while promoting retention of salt and water, actions that tend to raise blood pressure.

The efficacy of telmisartan has been documented locally through a multicenter study done by prominent cardiologists Drs. Ramon Abarquez Jr. and Rafael Castillo and other heart specialists.

Another effective hypertension medication is hydrochlorothiazide or HCTZ, which is commonly prescribed in combination with other antihypertensives.

HCTZ is a diuretic effective in flushing the excess water and sodium from the body, thus, decreasing the amount of fluid in the blood vessels and reducing blood pressure.

Hypertension patients, especially those with systolic hypertension and generally those who do not respond well to monotherapy, can now benefit from the antihypertensive effects of the combined preparation of telmisartan and hydrochlorothiazide recently made available in the Philippines.

Telmisartan+HCTZ is a fixed-dose combination drug, which contains 40 or 80 mg telmisartan and 12.5 mg of HCTZ in a single tablet. Greater patient compliance can be expected since patients need only to take a single tablet once daily. — PLG News & Views