Efficacy and safety of a stepped-care regimen using olmesartan medoxomil, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide in patients with moderate-to-severe hypertension: an open-label, long-term study.

Background: Treatment guidelines recommend combination therapy to control blood pressure (BP) in the majority of hypertensive patients. This long-term open-label study assessed a treatment algorithm based on olmesartan medoxomil (hereafter olmesartan), amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).

Methods: Patients with moderate-to-severe hypertension who were inadequately controlled with amlodipine 5 mg/day monotherapy and who subsequently completed 16 weeks of double-blind combination treatment with olmesartan and amlodipine entered a 28-week open-label phase in which all patients initially received olmesartan/amlodipine 40/5 mg/day. After 4, 10 and 19 weeks, patients with inadequately controlled hypertension (seated trough diastolic [DBP] and systolic [SBP] BP >/=90 mmHg and >/=140 mmHg, respectively) had their doses increased in a step-wise manner to: (i) olmesartan/amlodipine 40/10 mg; (ii) olmesartan/amlodipine/HCTZ 40/10/12.5 mg; and (iii) olmesartan/amlodipine/HCTZ 40/10/25 mg.

Results: In total, 692 patients entered the open-label phase (691 on olmesartan/amlodipine 40/5 mg). The majority of patients remained on olmesartan/amlodipine 40/5 mg without dose elevation, and, of these, 74.3% achieved goal BP at study completion or early termination. Additional patients achieved goal BP with each successive uptitration of therapy: in patients who finished the study on olmesartan/amlodipine 40/10 mg and olmesartan/amlodipine/HCTZ 40/10/12.5 mg, the respective proportions who reached goal BP were 59.0% and 47.1%. Overall, 66.9% of patients achieved the European guideline recommended goal BP of SBP <140 mmHg and DBP <90 mmHg for patients without diabetes mellitus, and SBP <130 mmHg and DBP <80 mmHg for patients with diabetes. Treatment was generally well tolerated, with no unexpected safety concerns.

Conclusions: A treatment algorithm based on olmesartan/amlodipine (+/- HCTZ) provides a high degree of BP control in patients with moderate-to-severe hypertension. The open-label study design suggests similar results are obtainable in clinical practice.