Publications

Abstract : Hypertensive urgency poses a serious risk if not treated effectively. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy on intravenous labetalol among patients with hypertensive urgency presenting to the Emergency room. A prospective observational study was conducted from October 2015 to March 2016, in the Emergency room of a tertiary care teaching hospital, among patients with hypertensive urgency i.e. BP greater than 180/120 mm Hg without target end-organ damage. Intravenous Labetalol 10mg, which is standard treatment protocol was administered. The BP and heart rate were recorded after 30 and 60 minutes. Efficacy was measured in percentage reduction of systolic BP in one hour. Frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inter-quartile range were used to summarize descriptive statistics. Paired t test and Student's t test were applied to test significance of differences. Total 81 patients with mean age 58.14±15.22 years were included, of them more than two-third (67.9%) were males. The mean reduction in systolic blood pressure one hour after administration of labetalol was 41.04±19.83 mm Hg, which gives a mean percent reduction of 20.29±9%. There was significant reduction in BP and heart rate (p<0.001). No adverse reactions were noted in the patients. There was no significant difference in efficacy of labetalol between those aged above and below 60years. The study reports that intravenous labetalol is a safe and effective treatment for hypertensive urgency patients in an emergency room setting.