Angiotensin receptor antagonists (ARB) and angiotensin converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are the two most widely used drug classes in the treatment of hypertension and in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and renal diseases. Studies with ARB have been able to replicate the benefits previously obtained in studies with ACE inhibitors, while direct-comparison studies have shown the two drugs to have a similar preventive efficacy. Other studies comparing ARB with other therapeutic strategies have shown these drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease at all stages of its development and progression and to be superior to other drugs in the primary and secondary prevention of stroke. In addition to this therapeutic efficacy, ARB are the cardiovascular drug class associated with the most favorable tolerability, leading to greater treatment adherence and persistence. All the evidence seems to indicate that, in the long term, this phenomenon possibly improves protection against cardiovascular disease. Likewise, the evidence also indicates that both ACE inhibitors and ARB are drug classes that include agents with a long future in the treatment of several generations and that they will probably be used in similar indications. Unless new data appear in the future, given the equal effectiveness of both drug classes, the better tolerability of ARB places them in a preferential position as renin-angiotensin system blockers in the treatment of chronic asymptomatic diseases such as hypertension.
