Amlodipine, sold under the brand name Norvasc among others, is a calcium channel blocker medication used to treat high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
It is taken by mouth.
Amlodipine works partly by increasing the size of arteries.
It is a long-acting calcium channel blocker of the dihydropyridine type.
Amlodipine was patented in 1982, and approved for medical use in 1990. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
It is available as a generic medication.
In 2020, it was the fifth most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 69 million prescriptions.
Common side effects include swelling, feeling tired, abdominal pain, and nausea.
Serious side effects may include low blood pressure or heart attack.
Whether use is safe during pregnancy or breastfeeding is unclear.
When used by people with liver problems, and in elderly individuals, doses should be reduced.
Despite the growing evidence supporting the role of amlodipine in reducing iron overload in thalassaemia patients, a meta-analysis did not find that evidence collectively significant. The results of our simulation suggest that when more data are available, a meta-analysis with more randomized clinical trials could provide more conclusive insights 1).
Establishment of drug therapy to prevent rupture of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) is needed. Previous human and animal studies have gradually clarified candidate drugs for the preventive treatment of IA rupture. However, because most of these candidates belong to classes of drugs frequently co-administered to prevent cardiovascular diseases, epidemiological studies evaluating these drugs simultaneously should be performed. Furthermore, because drugs included in the same class may have different effects in terms of disease prevention, drug-by-drug assessments are important for planning intervention trials.
Shimizu et al. performed a cross-sectional study enrolling patients diagnosed with IAs between July 2011 and June 2019. Patients were divided into ruptured or unruptured groups. The drugs investigated were selected according to evidence suggested by either human or animal studies. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association of drug treatment with rupture status. They also performed drug-by-drug assessments of the association, including dose-response relationships, with rupture status.
In total, 310 patients with ruptured and 887 patients with unruptured IAs were included. Multivariate analysis revealed an inverse association of statins (odds ratio (OR), 0.54; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.38-0.77), calcium channel blockers (OR, 0.41; 95% CI 0.30-0.58), and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) (OR, 0.67; 95% CI 0.48-0.93) with ruptured IAs. Moreover, inverse dose-response relationships with rupture status were observed for pitavastatin and rosuvastatin among statins, benidipine, cilnidipine, and amlodipine among calcium channel blockers, and valsartan, azilsartan, candesartan, and olmesartan among ARBs. Only non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were positively associated with ruptured IAs (OR, 3.24; 95% CI 1.71-6.13).
The present analysis suggests that several types of statins, calcium channel blockers, and ARBs are candidate drugs for the preventive treatment of unruptured IAs 2).