Effect of Captopril on some Liver Function Tests in Hypertensive Patients

Abstract

AbstractBackground: Liver damage caused by drugs ingestion has become an important public health problem, contributing to more than 50% of acute liver failure cases. Objective: To evaluate the effect of captopril monotherapy on some liver function tests in hypertensive patients, in relation to the age of patients, dose and duration of captopril use and to compare with the control.Subject & Methods: This is a case control study conducted in the Consultation Clinic for Internal Medicine in Bin-Siena Teaching Hospital in Mosul city for the period 15th of October 2010 to the 15th of April 2011. A total number of 90 patients (50 males and 40 females) with mild to moderate primary hypertension , non diabetic , neither having liver diseases nor other chronic illnesses, were taken and divided into two groups: First group included 45 patients using captopril (captopril group) for more than three months , with age ranged from 37 to 61 years (48.89 ± 7.35 years). The second group included 45 newly diagnosed untreated hypertensive patients (control group), matched with the first group by age, sex, and BM. The serum obtained from the blood samples from all participants in this study was used to measure some liver function tests by using the available commercial kits. The blood pressure (BP) was measured by sphygmomanometer in the sitting state, and BMI obtained by dividing weight in (kg) by square of height in (meter).Results: There is a significant reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in captopril group in comparison with the control group. There was a significant higher level of serum alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) in the captopril group as compared with the control group and non significant differences for the other liver function tests. There were no significant differences in the liver function tests in relation to the age of captopril using patients. No significant effect of the dose of captopril and the duration of captopril therapy on the liver function tests except that serum ALP was significantly increased with increasing of the dose of captopril. Conclusion: The use of captopril therapy causes a smooth BP reduction effect with no effects on liver function tests except that captopril therapy causes a significant higher level of serum ALP when compared with control group and the increase in the dose of captopril causes increase in the serum ALP level0 The duration of use of captopril and the age of the patients have no significant effect on the liver function tests.Key words: Captopril, bilirubin, liver enzymes