| Summary: | Background: Atenolol is a widely used anti-hypertensive drug worldwide. Despite well-studied from other population, due to the paucity of data from Indians, this study was conducted. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted in 566 tertiary care hospitals in India. Adult male or female naïve patients with Stage I 1 or Stage II 2 (Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee) essential hypertension or patients uncontrolled on current monotherapy or other combination therapy. Demographic details, blood pressure and heart rate readings (weeks 2, 8, and 12) and drug-related details of the study participants were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 2657 participants were evaluated. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) baseline systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the study participants were 161.73 (15.13) and 99.21 (11.37), respectively. Mean (SD) of the baseline heart rate was 84.39 (10.17) beats/min. Statistically significant reductions (P < 0.05) were noted in both the blood pressures and heart rate at all the follow-up visits in comparison to baseline. Of the total 632 patients with Stage I hypertension, 153 (24.21%) achieved a reduction in blood pressure <120/80 mmHg, while 245 (38.77%) had their blood pressure between 121 and 140 mmHg systolic and/or 81-90 mmHg diastolic at 12 weeks of therapy. Global assessment of the efficacy and tolerability were found to be at least satisfactory in the majority of the study participants. Conclusion: To conclude, atenolol as an anti-hypertensive agent seems to be promising both in terms of effectiveness and safety profile in the Indian population.
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