Advantages of diuretics.

Our recent Veterans Administration Cooperative Study--involving 683 hypertensive male patients--showed that a diuretic was more effective than a beta blocker in controlling hypertension in most respects. In addition, in this study we failed to find evidence that thiazide-induced hypokalemia was associated with increased evidence of cardiac arrhythmias in patients without overt heart disease. We are concerned that the current desire to avoid hypokalemia at all costs may result in the prescription of ineffective dosages of diuretics for the treatment of hypertension.