Effects of bedtime vs. morning administration of the long-acting lipophilic angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor trandolapril on morning blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

Cardiovascular events occur most frequently in the morning. To study the effects of the long-acting lipophilic angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor trandolapril on morning blood pressure (BP), we performed ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) before and after administration of trandolapril just before going to bed (bedtime-administered group: n=17) or in the morning (morning-administered group: n=20) in 37 hypertensive patients. Both sets of ABPM data were available in 30 patients. The 24-h systolic BP (SBP) levels were significantly decreased by 7.2 mmHg in the morning-administered group (p=0.02) and by 5.2 mmHg in the bedtime-administered group (p=0.04). In the bedtime-administered group, prewaking SBP (the average of the 2-h SBP values just before waking) and morning SBP (the average of the 2-h SBP values just after waking) were significantly decreased by 11 mmHg (p=0.005) and by 8.4 mmHg (p=0.03), respectively. On the other hand, in the morning-administered group, the reduction of prewaking SBP (3.9 mmHg, n.s.) and morning SBP (6.6 mmHg, n.s.) did not reach the level of statistical significance. However, the differences in the reductions of prewaking and morning SBPs between the two groups were not statistically significant. There was no additional reduction of the nighttime lowest BP in either administration group. In conclusion, bedtime administration of the long-acting ACE inhibitor trandolapril seems to be a safe and effective means of controlling morning BP in hypertensive patients without an excessive fall in nocturnal BP.