This study was designed to compare the efficacy of two different racemic
antihypertensive drugs on elderly patients with
hypertension and their effects on vascular endothelial function and
atherosclerosis. A total of 84 elderly hypertensive patients were randomly divided into control and treatment group with 42 patients in each group. The control group was treated with 2.5mg
levamlodipine while the treatment group was given 5mg
amlodipine. Total effective rate of the treatment group was 90.5%, higher than the control group, that was 71.4% (P<0.05). The time for recovery of related indicators like blood pressure, the total duration of medication were significantly (P<0.05) shorter in the treatment group. Only 1 case of
adverse drug reaction was found in the treatment group while 6 cases in control group. Compared to the control group, the treatment group had massive improvement in fingertip pulse volume, flow-mediated dilation of the brachial arteries and
endothelin-1 level, carotid intima-media thickness, plaque length & thickness, and blood pressure after the administration. The rate of satisfaction with the in treatment group was 95.3%, higher than that the control group, which was 78.6%. The study concluded that in elderly patients with
hypertension, the treatment with 5mg
amlodipine enhanced curative effect, fully improved endothelial function &
arteriosclerosis and reduced adverse reactions thereby shortening treatment time.