Combined effect of doxazosin and pindolol on blood pressure control and lipid concentrations in patients with essential hypertension selected from general practice. Hunter Hypertension Research Group.

Doxazosin, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist with potentially favourable effects on lipid status was evaluated in 25 otherwise healthy general practice patients with mild to moderate hypertension. A mean dose of 5.7 mg produced a significant fall in lying and standing systolic and diastolic blood pressure over an 11 week period as well as an 8% increase in HDL cholesterol and a 7.5% decrease in the total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio. Following this, the doxazosin dose was halved and pindolol, a beta-blocker with intrinsic sympathomimetic activity, was added (mean dose 7.8 mg) to maintain blood pressure control. At the completion of 11 weeks of combined alpha- and beta-blockade, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were found to be unaltered when compared to pretreatment; however there was a small but significant fall in total cholesterol. This study demonstrates that this combination of alpha- and beta-blocking antihypertensive therapy can produce potentially favourable blood lipid changes.