Abstract
Adverse metabolic effects of antihypertensive drugs are mentioned in connection with the therapy using beta-blockers and/or diuretics. Both these main classes of antihypertensive drugs have an irreplaceable role to play in the therapy of arterial hypertension and they demonstrably reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among hypertensive patients.
On the other hand, they may induce, or rather precipitate the development of diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia in predisposed individuals, as opposed to the therapy based on inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system and/or calcium channel blockers. Differences continue to exist as to whether the adverse metabolic effect is so powerful to impact patients prognosis.
Furthermore, each class contains a considerably heterogeneous group of drugs with different properties and their adverse metabolic effects thus cannot be generalized. This article summarizes some of the current findings on the effects of diuretics and beta-blockers on blood glucose and plasma lipid metabolism.