This clinical study was designed to evaluate the effect of Atenolol at a dose of (100 mg / day) on the level of serum lipids namely total choleterol (T-cho), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein – cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein – cholesterol (LDL-C), very ow density lipoprotein – cholesterol (VLDL-C) as well as the ratios of LDL-C/HDL-C and T-cho/HDL-C. (152) patients were diagnosed as having hypertension, (112) of them were treated with Atenolol (tenormin) (100mg/day), the remaining (40) patients have been hypertensives who have not been treated for hypertension and for the sake of comparison, samples have been taken from (40) normal individuals (the control group) of both sexes.
It was found that Atenolol increased the ratio of LDL-C/HDL-C, T-cho/HDL-C, TG, VLDL-C, LDL-C and T-cho while it decreased the level of HDL-C in blood serum of both sexes as compared with the non treated hypertensives. The results also demonstrated that hypertension caused an increase in the LDL-C/HDL-C and T-cho/HDL-C ratios, LDL-C, TG, VLDL-C and T-cho while it caused slight decrease in HDL-C in blood serum of both sexes as compared with control group.
Nevertheless, it was found that the increase in the ratio of T-cho/HDL-C and the levels of TG, VLDL-C and T-cho in blood serum of hypertensive females was slightly greater than that in their counter part males.