Barnidipine real-life tolerability in arterial hypertension: results from the BASIC-HT study.
INTRODUCTION
Blood pressure (BP) is generally poorly controlled in hypertensive patients. One cause is poor adherence to drugs, which can be improved by treatments combining good efficacy and tolerability. Barnidipine is a strong lipophilic calcium channel blocker (CCB) with efficacy similar to other dihydropyridines.


OBJECTIVE
BASIC HT is an observational study in a large population of patients with essential hypertension to evaluate the tolerability of barnidipine in a real-life setting.


METHODS
20479 patients were enrolled in the study. Tolerability and efficacy was assessed at 2 visits during a 3-month period. 20275 patients were included in the analysis.


RESULTS
Adverse events were reported by 10.6% of the patients, leading to treatment discontinuation in 3%. Events were those expected with CCBs. The drop-out rate was 8%. Mean systolic and diastolic pressure decreased from 159.6 to 138.2 and from 92.5 to 81.7 mmHg.


CONCLUSION
The decrease in BP, is probably due to stimulation of good adherence by barnidipine.