Managing Essential hypertension :Telmisartan vs Candesartan

The comparison of antihypertensive effects between telmisartan and candesartan in patients with essential hypertension has been investigated in several small studies but the results were not consistent.Dr.Di Zhao at College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China, and colleagues conducted a Meta-analysis to compare the antihypertensive effect of telmisartan vs candesartan.The researchers found that telmisartan and candesartan are equally effective in reducing systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) in patients with essential hypertension. The study suggests a similar antihypertensive effect of telmisartan 40 mg/day and candesartan 8 mg/day during a short-term antihypertensive therapy.The study has been published in Journal -Clinical and Experimental Hypertension.

For this meta-analysis, researchers conducted a search across Pubmed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases and identified 4 studies (n=302) that compared the antihypertensive effects of telmisartan vs candesartan in patients with essential hypertension. Changes in SBP, DBP, and severe adverse events were compared between both the groups.

The pooled results of all trials showed no significant differences in SBP (weighted mean difference [WMD], 1.98 mmHg; 95% CI, −0.53 to 4.49; P>.05) and DBP (WMD, 0.26 mmHg; 95% CI, −1.65 to 2.16) between telmisartan and candesartan group. After sub-analysis of 2 randomised trials, no significant difference was seen in SBP (WMD, 0.90 mmHg; 95% CI, −2.88 to 4.68; P>.05) and DBP (WMD, −0.80 mm Hg; 95% CI, −3.40 to 1.81; P>.05) between both the treatment groups.

“Our finding suggests that further strictly designed randomised trials will help to compare antihypertensive effects of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and to improve the choice of ARBs during clinical practice, “the authors wrote.This meta-analysis provides the evidence that the antihypertensive effects of telmisartan and candesartan are similar on SBP and DBP reduction in patients with essential hypertension, suggesting that strict designed randomized controlled trial would be helpful to compare antihypertensive effects of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and improve the choice of ARBs in antihypertensive therapy.