Allopurinol Shows Promise As Hypertension Treatment

TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- The blood pressure of teens newly diagnosed with hypertension can be reduced with allopurinol, but the potential for the drug to become a new treatment depends on the outcome of larger clinical trials to better understand the potential side effects of the drug, according to a report published in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Daniel I. Feig, M.D., Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 30 patients aged 11 to 17 who were newly diagnosed with and never treated for stage 1 essential hypertension and serum uric acid levels of at least 6 mg/dL, who received 200 mg of allopurinol twice a day for four weeks, or placebo, with a washout period of two weeks between treatments, given in random order.

When treated with allopurinol, patients had a mean 6.9 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure, versus a 2.0 mm Hg reduction for the placebo, the researchers report. The mean change in diastolic blood pressure for allopurinol and placebo was -5.1 mm Hg and -2.4 mm Hg, respectively. Normal blood pressure was achieved by 20 subjects while taking allopurinol, versus one while taking placebo, the report indicates.

"The observation that lowering uric acid can reduce blood pressure in adolescents with newly diagnosed hypertension raises intriguing questions about its role in the pathogenesis of hypertension," the authors write.

One of the study authors reports a financial relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

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