Evaluation of the effectiveness and tolerability of captopril in the treatment of essential arterial hypertension in nine subjects with sexual impotence secondary to the use of beta-blockers

The present study was carried out on nine men, aged between 36 and 57 years (mean age, 45.3 ± 6.6 years), affected by mild essential arterial hypertension at World Health Organization stage I. All patients had been treated with beta-blockers for a period of one to six months. In all patients beta-blockers had normalized arterial blood pressure (ABP) values (systolic ABP, 141.6 ± 9.7 mmHg; diastolic ABP, 88.3 ± 3.5 mmHg), however, causing sexual impotence. Due to this side effect, beta-blockers were replaced with captopril (50 mg once daily) for two weeks. After this period, two subjects required 100 mg daily of captopril to achieve normal ABP, while the other two required a diuretic in addition to captopril 100 mg daily for normalization of their ABP. In six of the nine patients sexual impotence disappeared within two to four weeks of the change in therapy.