HOUSTON, April 5 (UPI) -- Diuretics work better than newer therapies in treating high blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart disease, researchers announced Tuesday.
Researchers found diuretics are equally effective in black and non-black patients, a finding that confirms earlier studies. The latest study is the first large scale trial -- 33,357 participants -- to compare diuretics, calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors as initial therapies in a population with a substantial number of black participants.
The multi-center "Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial," or ALLHAT, was conducted under a contract with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Led by Dr. Barry Davis, researchers concluded diuretics are either similar or superior to newer drugs in lowering blood pressure, in tolerability, and in preventing the major complications from high blood pressure.
"This analysis confirms and extends to all races ALLHAT's original conclusion that diuretics are the right first-line therapy for high blood pressure," said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Cutler.
The findings appear in Wednesday's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
