Atenolol and Chlorthalidone (Page 3 of 5)

Drug Interactions

Atenolol and chlorthalidone may potentiate the action of other antihypertensive agents used concomitantly. Patients treated with atenolol and chlorthalidone plus a catecholamine depletor (e.g., reserpine) should be closely observed for evidence of hypotension and/or marked bradycardia which may produce vertigo, syncope or postural hypotension.

Calcium channel blockers may also have an additive effect when given with atenolol and chlorthalidone. (See WARNINGS.)

Disopyramide is a Type I antiarrhythmic drug with potent negative inotropic and chronotropic effects. Disopyramide has been associated with severe bradycardia, asystole and heart failure when administered with beta blockers.

Amiodarone is an antiarrhythmic agent with negative chronotropic properties that may be additive to those seen with beta blockers.

Thiazides may decrease arterial responsiveness to norepinephrine. This diminution is not sufficient to preclude the therapeutic effectiveness of norepinephrine. Thiazides may increase the responsiveness to tubocurarine.

Concomitant use of prostaglandin synthase inhibiting drugs, e.g., indomethacin, may decrease the hypotensive effects of beta blockers.

Lithium generally should not be given with diuretics because they reduce its renal clearance and add a high risk of lithium toxicity. Read prescribing information for lithium preparations before use of such preparations with atenolol and chlorthalidone.

Beta blockers may exacerbate the rebound hypertension which can follow the withdrawal of clonidine. If the two drugs are coadministered, the beta blocker should be withdrawn several days before the gradual withdrawal of clonidine. If replacing clonidine by beta-blocker therapy, the introduction of beta blockers should be delayed for several days after clonidine administration has stopped.

While taking beta blockers, patients with a history of anaphylactic reaction to a variety of allergens may have a more severe reaction on repeated challenge, either accidental, diagnostic or therapeutic. Such patients may be unresponsive to the usual doses of epinephrine used to treat the allergic reaction.

Both digitalis glycosides and beta-blockers slow atrioventricular conduction and decrease heart rate. Concomitant use can increase the risk of bradycardia.

Other Precautions

In patients receiving thiazides, sensitivity reactions may occur with or without a history of allergy or bronchial asthma. The possible exacerbation or activation of systemic lupus erythematosus has been reported. The antihypertensive effects of thiazides may be enhanced in the postsympathectomy patient.

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

Two long-term (maximum dosing duration of 18 or 24 months) rat studies and one long-term (maximum dosing duration of 18 months) mouse study, each employing dose levels as high as 300 mg/kg/day or 150 times the maximum recommended human antihypertensive dose 1, did not indicate a carcinogenic potential of atenolol. A third (24 month) rat study, employing doses of 500 and 1,500 mg/kg/day (250 and 750 times the maximum recommended human antihypertensive dose 1) resulted in increased incidences of benign adrenal medullary tumors in males and females, mammary fibroadenomas in females, and anterior pituitary adenomas and thyroid parafollicular cell carcinomas in males. No evidence of a mutagenic potential of atenolol was uncovered in the dominant lethal test (mouse), in vivo cytogenetics test (Chinese hamster) or Ames test (S typhimurium).

Fertility of male or female rats (evaluated at dose levels as high as 200 mg/kg/day or 100 times the maximum recommended human dose 1) was unaffected by atenolol administration.

Animal Toxicology

Six month oral administration studies were conducted in rats and dogs using atenolol and chlorthalidone doses up to 12.5 mg/kg/day (atenolol/chlorthalidone 10/2.5 mg/kg/day—approximately five times the maximum recommended human antihypertensive dose 1). There were no functional or morphological abnormalities resulting from dosing either compound alone or together other than minor changes in heart rate, blood pressure and urine chemistry which were attributed to the known pharmacologic properties of atenolol and/or chlorthalidone.

Chronic studies of atenolol performed in animals have revealed the occurrence of vacuolation of epithelial cells of Brunner’s glands in the duodenum of both male and female dogs at all tested dose levels (starting at 15 mg/kg/day or 7.5 times the maximum recommended human antihypertensive dose 1) and increased incidence of atrial degeneration of hearts of male rats at 300 but not 150 mg atenolol/kg/day (150 and 75 times the maximum recommended human antihypertensive dose,1 respectively).


1
Based on the maximum dose of 100 mg/day in a 50 kg patient.

Use in Pregnancy

Pregnancy Category D:

See WARNINGS — Pregnancy and Fetal Injury.

Nursing Mothers

Atenolol is excreted in human breast milk at a ratio of 1.5 to 6.8 when compared to the concentration in plasma. Caution should be exercised when atenolol is administered to a nursing woman. Clinically significant bradycardia has been reported in breast-fed infants. Premature infants, or infants with impaired renal function, may be more likely to develop adverse effects.

Neonates born to mothers who are receiving atenolol at parturition or breast-feeding may be at risk for hypoglycemia and bradycardia. Caution should be exercised when atenolol and chlorthalidone is administered during pregnancy or to a woman who is breast-feeding. (See WARNINGS, Pregnancy and Fetal Injury.)

Pediatric Use

Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.

Geriatric Use

Clinical studies of atenolol and chlorthalidone did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients. In general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and concomitant disease or other drug therapy.

Adverse Reactions to Atenolol and Chlorthalidone

Atenolol and chlorthalidone is usually well tolerated in properly selected patients. Most adverse effects have been mild and transient. The adverse effects observed for atenolol and chlorthalidone are essentially the same as those seen with the individual components.

Atenolol

The frequency estimates in the following table were derived from controlled studies in which adverse reactions were either volunteered by the patient (US studies) or elicited, e.g., by checklist (foreign studies). The reported frequency of elicited adverse effects was higher for both atenolol and placebo-treated patients than when these reactions were volunteered. Where frequency of adverse effects for atenolol and placebo is similar, causal relationship to atenolol is uncertain.

Volunteered (US Studies) Total-Volunteered and Elicited (Foreign + US Studies)
Atenolol (n = 164) % Placebo (n = 206) % Atenolol (n = 399) % Placebo (n = 407) %
CARDIOVASCULAR
Bradycardia 3 0 3 0
Cold Extremities 0 0.5 12 5
Postural Hypotension 2 1 4 5
Leg Pain 0 0.5 3 1
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM/ NEUROMUSCULAR
Dizziness 4 1 13 6
Vertigo 2 0.5 2 0.2
Light-Headedness 1 0 3 0.7
Tiredness 0.6 0.5 26 13
Fatigue 3 1 6 5
Lethargy 1 0 3 0.7
Drowsiness 0.6 0 2 0.5
Depression 0.6 0.5 12 9
Dreaming 0 0 3 1
GASTROINTESTINAL
Diarrhea 2 0 3 2
Nausea 4 1 3 1
RESPIRATORY (see WARNINGS)
Wheeziness 0 0 3 3
Dyspnea 0.6 1 6 4

During postmarketing experience, the following have been reported in temporal relationship to the use of the drug: elevated liver enzymes and/or bilirubin, hallucinations, headache, impotence, Peyronie’s disease, postural hypotension which may be associated with syncope, psoriasiform rash or exacerbation of psoriasis, psychoses, purpura, reversible alopecia, thrombocytopenia, visual disturbance, sick sinus syndrome, and dry mouth. Atenolol and chlorthalidone, like other beta blockers, has been associated with the development of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), lupus syndrome, and Raynaud’s phenomenon.

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