Efficacy and Safety of Combination Therapy of Aliskiren/Amlodipine or Aliskiren/Amlodipine/Hydrochlorothiazide in Patients With Stage II Hypertension

The patients were asked for 2 week run-in phase with atenolol 50 mg qd(once a day), followed by 4 schedule visits with 4-week interval until patient achieved BP goal. The maximum follow up was 16-week treatment. At visit 2, the patients started receiving Aliskiren/Amlodipine (150/5mg per day) for 4 weeks. At visit 3, if the patients did not achieve blood pressure (BP) goal, patients were up titrated to Aliskiren/Amlodipine (300/10 mg/day) for 4 weeks. At visit 4, if the patients did not achieve BP goal, HCT 12.5 mg/day was added to Aliskiren/Amlodipine/HCT (300/10/12.5 mg/day) for 4 weeks. Finally at visit 5, if the patients did not achieve BP goal, HCT was up titrated to Aliskiren/Amlodipine/HCT (300/10/25 mg/day) for 4 weeks until visit 6. Once the patients achieved BP goal at any visit, they completed the study.