Efficacy and Safety of Aliskiren in Patients With Mild to Moderate Hypertension During Exercise

An Eight-week, Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel-group, Pilot Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Aliskiren 300 mg in Comparison With Valsartan 320 mg in Patients With Mild to Moderate Hypertension During Exercise After a Missed Dose

This study compared the blunting effect of aliskiren and valsartan monotherapies on exercise-induced rises in systolic blood pressure in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.

Inclusion criteria:

• Mean sitting systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and < 180 mmHg measured at rest
• Patients able to exercise and to reach 85% of their predicted heart rate during a standard exercise test on a treadmill according to the Bruce Protocol

Exclusion criteria:

• Patients not confident in exercising or not able to exercise
• Absolute contraindication to exercise
• Mean sitting systolic blood pressure ≥ 180 mmHg and/or mean sitting diastolic blood pressure ≥ 110 mmHg measured at rest

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to the study.