TRANSDERMAL CLONIDINE FOR HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 5  (6) , 624-628
Abstract
Seventeen moderately hypertensive patients, whose blood pressure was previously controlled with hydrochlorothiazide and oral clonidine (blood pressure 129 .+-. 8/85 .+-. 5 mm Hg during therapy), were treated with a transdermal system involving application of 1 or more clonidine-containing patches (3 mg/patch) to the skin once a wk. The patients continued to take 50 mg of oral hydrochlorothiazide daily. By 4-8 wk, 15 of 17 patients using the transdermal system had achieved baseline blood pressure levels (130 .+-. 10/84 .+-. 6 mm Hg, NS [not significant]. During the maintenance phase of transdermal therapy, plasma clonidine levels measured 4 h (0.89 .+-. 0.48 ng/ml) and 7 days (0.78 .+-. 0.41 ng/ml) after patch application did not differ significantly from one another or from trough plasma clonidine levels (0.86 .+-. 0.54 ng/ml) measured during oral clonidine therapy. In moderately hypertensive patients, blood pressure apparently can be controlled with a once-weekly application of clonidine-containing skin patches as effectively as with oral clonidine.

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