Efficacy and safety of perindopril arginine + amlodipine in hypertension.

To study the efficacy and safety of a new combination of perindopril arginine and amlodipine besylate, 837 subjects were enrolled in a three-arm, prospective, 59-center, randomized clinical trial. For 42 days, subjects (average seated blood pressure [BP], 158 ± 12/101 ± 5 mm Hg; age, 52 ± 10 years; 52% male; 34% black; 20% diabetic) received amlodipine/perindopril arginine (10/14 mg/d), perindopril erbumine (16 mg/d), or amlodipine (10 mg/d). Goal BP was <140/90 or <130/80 mm Hg in diabetics, per JNC 7 guidelines.

A comparison of two sphygmomanometers that may replace the traditional mercury column in the healthcare workplace.

Objective: Alternatives to the traditional, but possibly toxic mercury sphygmomanometer are needed for accurate blood pressure measurements in the medical workplace. We compared the performance of two commercially available potential replacements for the mercury column; an anaeroid manometer (Baum & Co) and an automated oscillometric device (Omron HEM-907), using the mercury sphygmomanometer as a standard, in the same participants.

Methods: Two independent observers performed simultaneous triplicate blood pressure readings for 512 participants.

The occurrence of the alerting response is independent of the method of blood pressure measurement in hypertensive patients.

Objective: Current guidelines stress the need for more than one measurement of blood pressure in the hypertensive patient. The frequency with which the first blood pressure significantly exceeds subsequent blood pressures (alerting response) is unknown. Participants in a hypertension treatment trial before initiation of therapy were included in post-hoc analyses to investigate the alerting response separately for trained nurse blood pressure measurements with mercury sphygmomanometer and measurements taken by an Omron 705 CP automated device.

The trained observer better predicts daytime ABPM diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive patients than does an automated (Omron) device.

Objectives: Accurate blood pressure measurement is critical to successful clinical trials. Concerns about observer errors have led to the use of automated oscillometric devices without evidence that their performance is similar to that of trained observers. This study compares blood pressures obtained by trained observers and with an oscillometric device (Omron 705CP) to 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.