Effect of Nicardipine Treatment on Carbohydrate and Lipoprotein Metabolism in Patients with Hypertension

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of nicardipine, calcium channel blocker, monotherapy on blood pressure and metabolic changes. Various aspect of carbohydrate and lipoprotein metabolism were studied before and after 12 weeks of nicardipine treatment in 23 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. Nicardipine was well tolerated and induced a significant decrease (p<0.001) in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure without any changes in heart rate. Plasma levels of fasting glucose, insulin, C-peptide and hemoglobin A 1 c, hepatic extraction of insulin were similar following nicardipine treatment. Plasma glucose and insulin responses to an oral glucose challenge did not change in association with nicardipine therapy. Although high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration increased slightly, it did not reach statistical significance. Total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels also increased insignificantly. LDL triglyceride and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) triglyceride concentrations were higher marginally, which resulted in slightly but insignificantly increase in total triglyceride concentration in association with nicardipine monotherapy for 12 weeks. In conclusion, treatment of patients with mild to moderate hypertension with nicardipine led to lower blood pressure effectively while had no significant influence on carbohydrate and lipoprotein metabolism.