Use of losartan in diabetic patients in the primary care setting: review of the results in LIFE and RENAAL.

SUMMARYObjective: To review outcomes of diabetic patients treated with losartan in two recent randomized, double-blind, clinical trials and compare outcomes to similar studies in diabetics.Methods: The Reduction in ENdpoints with the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan (RENAAL) study recruited 1513 patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy. The Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction (LIFE) study recruited 9193 hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) including 1195 with diabetes mellitus. The maximum losartan dose in both studies was 100 mg daily. All study patients could receive additional antihypertensive medications, excluding angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and other angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), if blood pressures (BP) < 140/90 mmHg were not achieved. In RENAAL, the control group received placebo whereas in LIFE, controls received atenolol. BP reductions were comparable in the treatment and control groups of both studies. In RENAAL, the primary o...