Evaluation of effects of citalopram on blood tension rate in patients with hypertension; randomized controlled trial.

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the important risk factor of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, heart failure and brain stroke. Recent studies showed that depression would be able to increase cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and artrial stiffness. Aim of study Evaluating effects of citalopram on control of hypertension among patients with hypertension in shahid madani hospital Method This was a randomized,prospective controlled trial conducted in the Shahid Madani clinic of Tabriz University of Medical Science. A total of 93 patients aged upper than 18 with primary hypertension were contributed in this study.by removing patients with mild and moderate depression finally it was 41 patients In intervention group and 31 patients in control group. In intervention group, all patients received 20 mg citalopram in addition to standard treatment for 2 months while the control group received only standard treatment. Patients were followed up for a two-month period. At baseline and each follow-up visits, blood pressure was measured. Results There was no statistically significant difference between intervention and control group considering demographic and clinical data and blood pressure at baseline and after one month in systolic blood pressure(p=0/275). While there was statistically a significant difference between intervention and control group in diastolic blood pressure after one(p=0/023) and two month and systolic blood pressure after tow month(p=0/023). Furthermore, comparing the incidence of MACE during the follow- up period revealed no significant difference between groups. Conclusion The results showed that adding citalopram to patients’ anti-hypertensive regimen is associated with a significant improvement of blood pressure management after one and two months in diastolic blood pressure while it has no statistically significant difference in systolic blood pressure in one month but there was a significant difference in systolic blood pressure after two months. Large studies with long term follow –up are recommended to confirm the results of the present study.