Antihypertensive activity and duration of action of dilevalol in hypertensive patients at rest and during exercise. A comparison with captopril

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of dilevalol and captopril on blood pressure and heart rate in hypertensive subjects, both at rest and during bicycle exercise. Thirty mild hypertensive patients (24 men, 6 women), aged 34-55, were studied in a randomized, double-blind, parallel group trial. After a 3-week placebo run-in, patients were randomized to receive either dilevalol (200 mg once daily) or captopril (50 mg twice daily) for 4 weeks. Dilevalol-treated patients whose diastolic blood pressure had not decreased by more than 8 mmHg from baseline (or to less than 95 mmHg) were given 400 mg once daily for a further 2 weeks. Treatment was stopped for all other patients. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured at rest and during bicycle exercise tests 4 ("peak") and 24 hours ("trough") after dosing in the dilevalol group and 4 ("peak") and 12 hours ("trough") after dosing in the captopril group. At the end of the placebo run-in, mean resting blood pressure was 156/102 mmHg in the dilevalol group and 157/103 in the captopril group. Six patients had blood pressure normalization with captopril and 9 with dilevalol 200 mg; a further 2 patients achieved normalized blood pressure levels with dilevalol 400 mg