Patient Compliance and Therapeutic Coverage - Comparison of Amlodipine and Slow-release Nifedipine in the Treatment of Hypertension (vol 47, Pg 477, 1995)

SCOPUS: er.jErratum of the Eur J Clin Pharmacol 47 :477-481(http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/183860)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Patient Compliance and Therapeutic Coverage - Amlodipine Versus Nifedipine (slow-release) in the Treatment of Angina-pectoris

Patient compliance with therapy is often poor and overestimated by the treating physician; it is particularly important in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and angina pectoris. Compliance was studied in an open parallel study in out-patients with stable angina pectoris, given either amlodipine (5 mg, once daily) or slow-release nifedipine (20 mg, twice daily) for 12 weeks. Compliance was assessed using pill counting and using an electronic device, the medication event monitoring system, to record the time and date of each opening and closure of the pill container. There was no difference between the two groups in pill count or in 'taking compliance' (the percentage of prescribed doses taken as indicated by the monitoring system). Compliance was significantly better (P < 0.001) with amlodipine, however, for 'correct dosing' (the percentage of days on which the correct dose was taken) and for 'timing compliance' (the percentage of doses taken at the prescribed time interval after the last dose). 'Therapeutic coverage' (the estimated proportion of treatment time for which the drug was active) was also significantly better for amlodipine (P < 0.001). There was no difference in reported side-effects between the two therapies

TOLERABILITY OF ISRADIPINE IN THE TREATMENT OF MILD-TO-MODERATE HYPERTENSION IN GENERAL-PRACTICE - A LARGE-SCALE SURVEILLANCE STUDY.

The tolerability of isradipine was evaluated in an open trial of patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension as treated in general practice. The primary objective was to identify all adverse reactions, especially those that were newly occurring (≥ 6 reports), with a frequency > 1/1,000. Over 1,100 general practitioners and 5,526 patients participated in this trial. After a 2-week washout period, and a 3-week placebo run-in, patients with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 95 mm Hg were initially given isradipine at 1.25 mg twice daily. After 4 weeks, doses were doubled if DBP was > 90 mm Hg. If, after a further 4 weeks with doubled dosages, the DBP was still >90 mm Hg, a second (nonspecified free-choice) antihypertensive agent was added to the treatment. Adverse events were recorded by open questioning. The incidence of adverse events was found to be similar to that with placebo; adverse events were generally mild or moderate in intensity and disappeared over time. No newly occurring adverse events were found. In conclusion, isradipine is safe and well tolerated at effective antihypertensive doses in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension as treated in general practice. © Raven Press, Ltd. New York.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe