ANTIHYPERTENSIVE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL AND RAMIPRIL IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH MILD TO MODERATE ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION: THE ESPORT STUDY

Objective. To compare the efficacy and safety of the angiotensin II antagonist olmesartan medoxomil (O) and the ACE inhibitor ramipril (R) in elderly patients with essential arterial hypertension. Methods. After a 2-week placebo wash-out 1102 treated or untreated elderly hypertensive patients aged 65–89 years (office sitting diastolic blood pressure, DBP, 90–109mmHg and/or office sitting systolic blood pressure, SBP, 140–179mmHg) were randomized double-blind to 12-week treatment with O 10mg or R 2.5mg oncedaily. After the first 2 and 6 weeks doses could be doubled in non-normalized [blood pressure (BP)