The blood pressure medication telmisartan did not improve walking performance in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the lower extremity, according to new research. These results challenge previous studies that found telmisartan improved running strength in mice and increased treadmill walking distance in people with PAD. The new findings did indicate, however, that people with PAD could improve their walking performance through exercise.
Researchers from multiple sites randomly assigned 114 participants who had PAD to either receive telmisartan or a placebo; average age was 67 years, 40% were women, and 71% were Black. Participants were randomly assigned walking exercises on a treadmill 3x/week with an expert or 1-hour educational sessions on health topics with study personnel. The researchers compared results on the 6-minute walk distance between the telmisartan and placebo groups at baseline and at a 6-month follow-up and evaluated several measures of speed, performance, and function.
Participants who took telmisartan had lower blood pressure after 6 months. However, telmisartan did not improve 6-minute walk distance, speed, performance, or function compared with placebo at a 6-month follow-up. Instead, the effects of telmisartan trended–albeit insignificantly–toward worse performance on 6-minute walk distance compared with placebo. A follow-up analysis, however, did show that exercise improved the 6-minute walk distance.
Source: McDermott MM, Bazzano L, Peterson CA, et al. Effect of telmisartan on walking performance in patients with lower extremity peripheral artery disease: the TELEX randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2022;328(13):1315-1325. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.16797
