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Table 2 Average reduction in blood pressure over 24 hours (treated minus placebo) according to category of drug and dose [9]

From: Blood pressure reduction, persistence and costs in the evaluation of antihypertensive drug treatment – a review

Drugs Systolic/Diastolic Fall in blood pressure (mmHg (95%CI))
Thiazides Systolic 8.8 (8.3 to 9.4)
  Diastolic 4.4 (4.0 to 4.8)
Beta-blockers Systolic 9.2 (8.6 to 9.9)
  Diastolic 6.7 (6.2 to 7.1)
ACE inhibitors Systolic 8.5 (7.9 to 9.0)
  Diastolic 4.7 (4.4 to 5.0)
Angiotensin II receptor antagonists Systolic 10.3 (9.9 to 10.8)
  Diastolic 5.7 (5.4 to 9.0)
Calcium channel blockers Systolic 8.8 (8.3 to 9.2)
  Diastolic 5.9 (5.6 to 6.2)
  1. In each category, the fall in blood pressure was standardised to the average starting blood pressure across all trials of 154 mmHg systolic and 97 mmHg diastolic; the estimates are the average over 24 hours from combining separate peak and trough estimates.
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