Quinapril versus lisinopril in the treatment of essential hypertension in elderly patients with low blood renin.

The aim of the study was to evaluate efficacy and tolerability of quinapril 20 mg once-a-day versus lisinopril 20 mg, in the treatment of old patients suffering from essential mild or moderate hypertension and presenting low levels of plasmarenin. It was a cross-over study with open treatments randomly assigned. Ten patients were treated, 6 females and 4 males, with average age of 67.1 years +/- 7.1. Two wash-out periods with placebo were scheduled, each lasting one week before the onset of active therapy; each treatment period lasted 21 days. Blood pressure controls (including the 24 hours monitoring) were done at basal time, after seven days and at the end of each treatment. Results show the efficacy and the safety of both the drugs and a more effective and constant control of hypertension by Quinapril was confirmed.