Abstract
Background: It have been suggested by some studies that uric acid plays a causal role in the development of cardiovascular disease where as other studies concluded that uric acid merely reflects other concomitant risk factors, such as hypertension, insulin resistance, obesity, or lipid abnormality . Sartan drugs or angiotensin II receptor blockers do appear to lower uric acid levels (SUA). The clinical importance of this finding to patients with hypertension, or gout, or both is not yet known. The present study was aimed to compare the effects of the antihypertensive drugs losartan and candasartan on blood pressure and uric acid level in hypertensive patients.
Materials and Methods: A total of 80 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients were divided into two groups, with 40 patients in each group. Group 1 was given losartan (50 mg/day) and group 2 was given candasartan (8mg/day). A control group of 50 apparently healthy individuals was included. Blood pressure and uric acid were measured for controls and patients before and after drug administration.
Results:A significant increase in blood pressure and uric acid were found in hypertensive patients before starting treatment (P<0.001), as compared with controls. After 2 months of treatment, the systolic and diastolic BP were significantly reduced in the both losartan and candasartan groups (P<0.001). Both drugs were similarly effective in reducing the blood pressure in patients with hypertension with no statistical significant difference between the two treatments. Serum uric acid levels were only significantly reduced after 2 months of treatment with losartan (P < 0.001) but not with candasartan.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that both losartan and candasartan therapy were similarly effective in reducing blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Losartan, but not candasartan, was associated with a significant reduction in serum uric acid levels. Our findings suggest that the losartan is the drug of choice in patients with hypertension and hyperuricemia and gout.
