Propranolol in the Treatment of Hypertension

With heightened awareness of the need for better treatment of millions of hypertensive patients, physicians have markedly increased their use of antihypertensive drugs in the past few years. Empirical use of agents now available can control the blood pressure in almost every patient, though sometimes with troublesome side effects. The beta-adrenergic blocker propranolol has been eagerly accepted as an antihypertensive agent for a number of reasons: it is said to be effective in as many as 90 per cent of patients, when used with a diuretic₁; side effects are reported to be infrequent and relatively mild in most patients;.