According to a study presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association, Norvasc, was more effective at reducing blood pressure near the heart than standard, older treatments such as beta blockers.
Norvasc, produced by drug company Pfizer was better in lowering central pressure than the atenolol-based conventional recommended treatment, says lead researcher Bryan Williams, a professor at the University of Leicester School of Medicine.
The researchers also say that the results indicate that blood pressure near the heart, or central aortic blood pressure, may be a better predictor of heart attack and stroke risk than a traditional blood pressure measurement taken from the arm using the standard inflated arm cuff.
Norvasc belongs to a class of drugs known as calcium channel blockers, while atenolol is a beta blocker.
Williams says the study found that measuring blood pressure in the arm appeared to underestimate the efficacy of drugs such as amlodipine (Norvasc) and overestimate the efficacy of the beta blocker atenolol.
He regards the results of the study as clear-cut, dramatic and potentially very important.
The study was in fact a part of a major blood pressure study known as ASCOT unveiled earlier this year.
The Conduit Artery Function Evaluation (CAFE) study has helped explain why Norvasc was shown to reduce cardiac death compared with atenolol.
Professor Williams was given permission from Pfizer to do an independent review of about 10 percent, or 2,199, of the patients involved in the ASCOT study, checking their aortic blood pressure as well as the standard blood pressure measurement taken via the arm.
Williams explains that while the ASCOT study found Norvasc reduced adverse heart events, including a 14 percent reduction in cardiac death, compared to the beta blocker, the blood pressure reduction appeared to be about the same when measured in the conventional way.