Therapy

• oral clonidine ^a

Why?

• It causes a slower fall in blood pressure than nifedipine, but lasts longer
• Side-effects (particularly sedation) are more common.

Clonidine prevents recurrence of hypertension more effectively than nifedipine but causes sedation

Patient	Treatment	Comparison	Outcome	CER	RRR (95% CI)	NNT (95% CI)
hypertensive crisis a	clonidine	nifedipine	diastolic blood pressure < 120 mmHg at 45 minutes	21%	290% (85% to 700%)	2 (1 to 3)
			recurrence of diastolic > 120 mmHg at 6 hours	3.6%	750% (13% to 6300%)	-4 (-15 to -2)
			side-effects at 6 hours	61%	50% (0% to 75%)	3 (2 to 24)