Altace and Hair Thinning or Loss

In clinical studies, Altace and hair thinning or loss did not seem to be related. Hair thinning or hair loss is not a commonly reported side effect with any of the ACE inhibitors. It is more commonly seen with other types of high blood pressure medicines, such as beta blockers.

 

An Overview of Altace and Hair Thinning or Loss

There are a number of possible side effects with Altace® (ramipril). Hair loss or hair thinning with Altace does not appear to be one of them. In fact, hair loss or hair thinning is not a commonly reported side effect with any of the ACE inhibitors. It is, however, more commonly seen with other types of high blood pressure medicines, such as beta blockers.
 
Does this mean that hair problems in your particular situation are not related to Altace? Not necessarily. To understand this, it may be helpful to understand how side effect information is determined.
 

Understanding Clinical Trials and Altace Side Effects

Before medicines are approved, they must go through several clinical studies where thousands of people are given a particular medicine and compared to a group of people not given the medicine.
 In these studies, side effects are always documented. This way, it is possible to see what side effects occur, how often they appear, and how they compare to the group not taking the medicine. Side effects are then usually separated into those side effects that occur in more than 1 percent of people taking the drug and those that occur in less than 1 percent of people. Hair loss or hair thinning with Altace was not reported as either a common or rare side effect during these studies.
 
Clinical trials are designed to eliminate as many variables as possible in order to understand whether the medicine works and what its possible side effects are. However, once the drug is approved, new side effects may appear because a wider range of people are now taking it. Once a medicine is approved, it does not usually continue to be studied, so certain side effects that occur very rarely may never be documented -- especially minor side effects. So, for an individual person, it can be very difficult to say with complete assurance that a particular complaint is not due to the medicine, even if the complaint is a side effect that hasn't been reported before.
 
(Altace and Hair Thinning or Loss Continued: Page 2)
Add this article to your Favorites     Email this article     Print
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;