Comparison of N-acetylcysteine and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors in blood pressure regulation in hypertensive patients

Background: hypertension (htn) is the most prevalent non-infectious disease worldwide and can lead to mortality. this trial aimed to compare the effect of n-acetylcysteine (nac) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (aceis) on controlling blood pressure in hypertensive patients. methods: this cross-sectional clinical trial was conducted in hajar hospital, shahrekord, iran, in 2009. a sample of 126 patients with htn was selected and randomly divided into 2 groups (group a and group b). first, group a was treated with acei alone and group b with acei + nac for 2 months. blood pressure of all patients was evaluated each week. after a 2 week period of washout, the drugs were changed. in the second period of the trial, group a was treated with acei + nac and group b with nac alone and their blood pressure was evaluated in the same manner as the previous period. the data were analyzed using spss. results: a significant reduction was observed in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of patients (p < 0.050). however, during both periods of the trial, the group receiving nac + acei experienced a more significant reduction in blood pressure compared with the acei group (p < 0.050). conclusion: nac accompanied with acei decreased the patients’ systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly; however, acei alone did not have any significant effects on blood pressure. systolic blood pressure decreased 7 mmhg on average and fluctuated during the trial.