Efficacy and safety of nifedipine GITS in Chinese patients with hypertension--a post-marketing surveillance study.

Purpose: This post-marketing surveillance study assessed the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the treatment with nifedipine GITS (gastro-intestinal therapeutic system) in hypertensive patients under normal daily practice conditions in China.

Patients and methods: A total of 3003 patients were included in 174 outpatient clinics. Patients received 30 mg or 60 mg of nifedipine GITS. Data were collected at up to three follow-up visits.

Results: At the end of the observation period, mean treatment duration was 13.3 weeks. Mean blood pressure reduction was 27.6/13.6 mmHg, 62.1% of patients had a systolic blood pressure <140 mmHg, and 82.2% had a diastolic blood pressure <90 mmHg. Blood pressure control according to international guidelines was achieved in 45.0% of all patients. A total of 1515 patients received additional antihypertensive medications, of which angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were mostly used (42.2%) followed by beta-blockers (33.7%). Twenty-two patients (0.7%) experienced 27 adverse events. Physicians' assessments of efficacy, tolerability and patient acceptance had ratings of "very good" and "good" in 88.7% (efficacy), 92.8% (tolerability) and 89.1% (patient acceptance) of patients.

Conclusions: Nifedipine GITS proved to be effective and well tolerated for the treatment of hypertension in 3003 Chinese patients. The results confirm the findings of previously performed clinical studies.