Addition of Spironolactone in Patients With Resistant
Arterial Hypertension (ASPIRANT)
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
Jan Va´clavík, Richard Sedla´k, Martin Plachy´, Karel Navra´til, Jirˇí Pla´sˇek, Jirˇí Jarkovsky´,
Toma´sˇ Va´clavík, Roman Husa´r, Eva Kocia´nova´, Milosˇ Ta´borsky´
Abstract—There is currently limited data on which drug should be used to improve blood pressure (BP) control in patients
with resistant hypertension. This study was designed to assess the effect of the addition of 25 mg of spironolactone on BP in
patients with resistant arterial hypertension. Patients with office systolic BP
Ͼ140 mm Hg or diastolic BP Ͼ90 mm Hg despite
treatment with at least 3 antihypertensive drugs, including a diuretic, were enrolled in this double-blind, placebo-controlled,
multicenter trial. One hundred seventeen patients were randomly assigned to receive spironolactone (n
ϭ59) or a placebo
(n
ϭ58) as an add-on to their antihypertensive medication, by the method of simple randomization. Analyses were done with
111 patients (55 in the spironolactone and 56 in the placebo groups). At 8 weeks, the primary end points, a difference in mean
fall of BP on daytime ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), between the groups was
Ϫ5.4 mm Hg (95% CI Ϫ10.0; Ϫ0.8) for
systolic BP (P
ϭ0.024) and Ϫ1.0 mm Hg (95% CI Ϫ4.0; 2.0) for diastolic BP (Pϭ0.358). The APBM nighttime systolic,
24-hour ABPM systolic, and office systolic BP values were significantly decreased by spironolactone (difference of
Ϫ8.6,
Ϫ9.8, and Ϫ6.5 mm Hg; Pϭ0.011, 0.004, and 0.011), whereas the fall of the respective diastolic BP values was not
significant (
Ϫ3.0, Ϫ1.0, and Ϫ2.5 mm Hg; Pϭ0.079, 0.405, and 0.079). The adverse events in both groups were
comparable. In conclusion, spironolactone is an effective drug for lowering systolic BP in patients with resistant
arterial hypertension. (Hypertension. 2011;57:1069-1075.)
● Online Data Supplement
Key Words: resistant hypertension
� spironolactone � clinical trials � blood pressure
� ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
R
esistant hypertension is a common clinical problem
faced by both primary care clinicians and specialists
worldwide. It is defined as blood pressure (BP) that remains
above goal despite the concurrent use of 3 antihypertensive
agents of different classes prescribed at optimal dosages; one
of the 3 agents used should be a diuretic.
1
The exact prevalence of resistant hypertension is not
known, but it is estimated from large clinical trials to affect at
least 10% to 15% of all hypertensive patients.
2,3
If no
secondary cause of hypertension is found, the use of multi-
drug treatment regimens including 3, 4, or more antihyper-
tensive drugs is usually necessary to lower BP and thus
prevent future cardiovascular events.
4
Spironolactone is a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist
that was shown to lower BP effectively in both general
hypertensive patients and patients with primary aldosteron-
ism.
5–7
A number of small, uncontrolled trials showed the
positive effect of small doses of spironolactone in lowering
BP in patients with resistant arterial hypertension.
8 –11
In the
nonrandomized post hoc analysis of the Anglo-Scandinavian
Cardiac Outcomes Trial-Blood Pressure Lowering Arm, the
addition of spironolactone to a triple-drug treatment led,
during an average of 1.3 years of follow-up, to a significant
decrease of systolic BP of 21.9 mm Hg and diastolic BP of
9.5 mm Hg.
12
However, evidence from randomized trials was
lacking, and it was necessary to provide definite proof for the
efficacy of spironolactone as an add-on treatment in resistant
hypertension.
12,13
Therefore, we designed a prospective ran-
domized trial to evaluate the effect of adding spironolactone
in patients with resistant arterial hypertension. We decided to
administer a low dose of spironolactone (25 mg/day) in the
trial, since the effect of this dose seemed to be substantial
Received January 12, 2011; first decision February 2, 2011; revision accepted April 4, 2011.
From the Department of Internal Medicine I (J.V., E.K., M.T.), University Hospital Olomouc and Palacky´ University School of Medicine, Olomouc,
Czech Republic; Department of Internal Medicine (R.S.), Prosteˇjov Hospital, Prosteˇjov, Czech Republic; Internal Medicine Department II (M.P.), St.
Anne’s University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Internal Medicine (K.N.), Military Hospital, Olomouc, Czech Republic; Department
of Internal Medicine (J.P.), University Hospital Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic; Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses at the Faculty of Medicine and
the Faculty of Science of the Masaryk University (J.J.), Brno, Czech Republic; Statistics and Probability Department (T.V.), Faculty of Informatics and
Statistics, University of Economics in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Internal Medicine (R.H.), Hranice Hospital, Hranice na Moraveˇ,
Czech Republic.
Correspondence to Jan Va´clavík, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Olomouc, I.P. Pavlova 6, 775 20 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
E-mail vaclavik.j@centrum.cz
© 2011 American Heart Association, Inc.
Hypertension is available at http://hyper.ahajournals.org
DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.169961
1069
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