A combination of labetalol and flunarizine in the treatment of arterial hypertension in the elderly

An open-type study was carried out on 20 patients (12 males, 8 females), age-range 53-79 years (mean: 66.7 ± 7 years) with mild to moderate essential hypertension. Twelve patients had cerebral vascular disease, three peripheral vascular disease, and two had both. Three patients had no frank vascular lesions. All patients were treated with labetalol alone (200 mg once daily in the morning) for the first four weeks of the trial, and thereafter were given a combination of labetalol plus flunarizine (10 mg) for a further eight weeks. Analysis of the results in individual patients revealed that normal blood presure values were obtained in nine patients (45%) after the first month of treatment, and in a further seven patients (35%) after the second month, making 16 cases of normalisation in all (80%). The addition of flunarizine brought about a progressive reduction in subjective symptoms (dizzines, headache, etc.). Two patients failed to complete the trial, one due to lack of compliance and the other to the onset of bronchospasm.