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Title: Antiobesity, Antihypertensive Drug Combination Reduces Weight and Blood Pressure: Presented at ECO

"Antiobesity, Antihypertensive Drug Combination Reduces Weight and Blood Pressure: Presented at ECO"

By Timothy A. O'Leary GENEVA -- May 22, 2008 -- Patients with obesity and hypertension can achieve significant reductions in weight and blood pressure with a low-fat, low-calorie diet and a regime of the antiobesity drug sibutramine and the antihypertension combination verapamil-trandolapril, according to study results presented here at the 16th European Congress on Obesity (ECO). "The combination of verapamil-trandolapril and sibutramine in obese hypertensive patients significantly reduced blood pressure levels and improved anthropometric and metabolic parameters," according to Theodosios D. Filippatos, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece, and colleagues. To be eligible for inclusion in the study, patients had to have obesity and grade 1 hypertension (140-159 mm Hg systolic and/or 90-99 mm Hg diastolic). The 32 patients in the study had an average body weight of 106 kg, an average body mass index of 39.9 kg/m[², and an average blood pressure of 150/99 mm Hg.

The patients were put on a low-fat, low-calorie diet and received daily doses of sibutramine 10 mg and verapamil-trandolapril 180/2 mg for 6 months.

The researchers noted that they had also aimed to observe the regimen's effects on various anthropometric and metabolic variables, such as waist circumference and total cholesterol.

The combined treatment resulted in reductions in body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. The average body mass index fell 7.8% to 36.8 kg/m². The average systolic blood pressure fell 14.1%, and the average diastolic blood pressure fell 15.1% (P < .01).

Results of this study, presented on May 17, show that 78% of patients achieved blood pressure readings below 140/90 mm Hg. No patient experienced a blood pressure increase. Heart rates did not significantly change.

Significant reductions were also observed in total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). In addition, significant reductions of small, dense LDL cholesterol and of plasma visfatin (all P < .05) were observed.

Curiously, waist circumferences increased 18.1%, from 94 to 111 cm.

[Presentation title: Effects of Sibutramine Plus Verapamil SR/Trandolapril Combination on Blood Pressure and Metabolic Parameters in Obese Patients With Mild Hypertension. Abstract T2:PS:179]

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