This double-blind, placebo-controlled, four-way balanced design crossover study included
hypertensive patients aged 60–85 years with mean office-measured sitting systolic blood
pressure (SBP) 160–179 mm Hg and daytime SBP⩾ 135 mm Hg. After a 2-week run-in
period, during which previous medications were discontinued, each patient received the
following four treatments in randomized order for 4 weeks each: lercanidipine 10 mg (L),
enalapril 20 mg (E), lercanidipine 10 mg plus enalapril 20 mg (L/E) and placebo (P). At the …

Several trials have shown that hypertensive patients whose blood pressure (BP) is brought
under control (< 140/90 mmHg) have significantly fewer cardiovascular events than patients
whose BP remains uncontrolled [1]. However, despite the availability of multiple
antihypertensive drugs, BP is difficult to control, especially systolic BP and in elderly patients
[2]. In most clinical trials aimed at controlling BP, more than two antihypertensive drugs are
almost always required. The importance of combination therapy has been emphasized in …