People who are just beginning treatment for high blood pressure can benefit equally from two different classes of medicine – angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) – yet ARBs may be less likely to cause medication side effects, according to an analysis of real-world data published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.
While the class of blood pressure-lowering medicines called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors may be prescribed more commonly, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) work just as well and may cause fewer side effects. Currently, ACE inhibitors are prescribed more commonly than ARBs as a first-time blood pressure control medicine.
