The use of self-measured blood pressure determinations in assessing dynamics of drug compliance in a study with amlodipine once a day, morning versus evening.

Objective: To test whether the time of administration influences the therapeutic response to a calcium antagonist taken once a day. Also, the dynamics of drug compliance and its impact on blood pressure control were investigated.

Design: Twenty outpatients with mild-to-moderate hypertension were included in a randomized, placebo-controlled open study.

[Are home blood pressure measurements and 24-hour ambulatory recordings superior to office measurements? Comparison of 3 blood pressure recording methods in a study of cilazapril versus atenolol].

Self-assessment of blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) are being more widely used in the diagnosis and therapy of hypertension, in addition to office blood pressure measurement. The present multicenter double-blind study compared cilazapril 2.5 to 5 mg (n = 26) to atenolol 50 to 100 mg (n = 27) over a period course of eight weeks.

[Acceptance of 24-hour blood pressure determination].

In interviews with 247 patients acceptance and behaviour during 24-hour-ambulatory blood-pressure recording were studied. In contrast to previous assumptions it was shown that the blood-pressure profile was not recorded during normal activities for a great part of patients. Very often the patients reduced their activity over the day.

An evaluation of self-measured blood pressure in a study with a calcium-channel antagonist versus a beta-blocker.

In recent years self-measurement of blood pressure at home has gained increasing importance but there have been only a few studies comparing casual, ambulatory, and self-measured blood pressure determinations during a single clinical trial. We therefore compared treatment-induced blood pressure-reductions in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study design with a single morning dose of either 10 mg bisoprolol (n = 26) or 20 mg nitrendipine (n = 27) with casual blood pressure readings in the morning before the dose, ambulatory 24-h monitoring, and self-recorded measurements in the morning before the dose and in the evening. Mean reductions for systolic and diastolic blood pressure after 4 weeks of therapy were significantly greater for bisoprolol than for nitrendipine.