Telmisartan With or Without Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) Compared With Losartan With or Without HCTZ in Mild to Moderate Hypertensive Patients

Exclusion Criteria

• •Nursing, pregnancy or childbearing potential women, post-menopausal women will be enrolled with last menstruation \> 1 year prior to start wash-out phase or surgically sterile
• •Secondary hypertension
• •Malignant hypertension (retinal haemorrhage, exudates or papillary oedema)
• •Clinically significant sodium depletion as defined by serum sodium level \< 130 mEq/L and/or clinically significant hyperkaliemia as defined by serum potassium level \> 5.5 mEq/L or clinically significant hypokaliemia as defined by serum potassium level \< 3.0 mEq/L
• •Atrial fibrillation or frequent ventricular ectopic beats or other arrhythmias which, in the investigator opinion could compromise patient's participation to the trial
• •Congestive heart failure (CHF) (NYHA (New York Heart Association) functional class CHF III-IV)
• •Angina pectoris or myocardial infarction
• •Cardiac surgery within the past 3 months prior to start the wash-out period
• •Stroke within the past 6 months prior to start the wash-out period
• •Renal insufficiency defined as creatininaemia \> 2mg/dl
• •Bilateral renal artery stenosis, renal artery stenosis in a solitary kidney, post renal transplant, presence of only one functioning kidney
• •Liver insufficiency, defined as bilirubinaemia \> 2mg/dl and AST (aspartate aminotransferase) or ALT (alanine-aminotransferase) \> twice the upper normal range
• •Clinically significant metabolic and endocrine disease
• •Autoimmune disease
• •Previous history of angioedema
• •Body mass index \> 30kg/m2
• •Arm circumference \> 32 cm
• •Any condition that may be likely to compromise patients participation to the trial (alcohol or drug abuse, disability illness, etc.)
• •Concomitant therapy with antihypertensive drugs non permitted by protocol, corticosteroids or drugs known to affect blood pressure
• •Concomitant use of lithium or cholestyramine or colestipol resins (potential drug interactions with HCTZ)
• •Investigational drug treatment within the past 30 days before the enrolment or concurrent participation to any other trial
• •Sensitivity, significant adverse reaction or contraindications to the study drugs (telmisartan, losartan, HCTZ)
• •Predictable lack of patient co-operation