GeneralElectrolyte Imbalance and BUN Increases
Determination of serum electrolytes to detect possible
electrolyte imbalance should be performed at appropriate intervals.
Patients should be observed for clinical signs of fluid or electrolyte
imbalance: i.e., hyponatremia, hypochloremic alkalosis, and hypokalemia. Serum
and urine electrolyte determinations are particularly important when the patient
is vomiting excessively or receiving parenteral fluids. Warning signs or
symptoms of fluid and electrolyte imbalance, irrespective of cause, include
dryness of mouth, thirst, weakness, lethargy, drowsiness, restlessness,
confusion, seizures, muscle pains or cramps, muscular fatigue, hypotension,
oliguria, tachycardia, and gastrointestinal disturbances such as nausea and
vomiting.
Hyponatremia and hypochloremia may occur during the use of thiazides and
other diuretics. Any chloride deficit during thiazide therapy is generally mild
and may be lessened by the amiloride HCl component of this product.
Hypochloremia usually does not require specific treatment except under
extraordinary circumstances (as in liver disease or renal disease). Dilutional
hyponatremia may occur in edematous patients in hot weather; appropriate therapy
is water restriction, rather than administration of salt, except in rare
instances when the hyponatremia is life-threatening. In actual salt depletion,
appropriate replacement is the therapy of choice.
Hypokalemia may develop during thiazide therapy, especially with brisk
diuresis, when severe cirrhosis is present, during concomitant use of
corticosteroids or ACTH, or after prolonged therapy. However, this usually is
prevented by the amiloride hydrochloride component of this combination drug
product.
Interference with adequate oral electrolyte intake will also contribute to
hypokalemia. Hypokalemia may cause cardiac arrhythmia and may also sensitize or
exaggerate the response of the heart to the toxic effects of digitalis (e.g.,
increased ventricular irritability).
Thiazides have been shown to increase the urinary excretion of magnesium;
this may result in hypomagnesemia. Amiloride hydrochloride, a component of this
combination product, has been shown to decrease the enhanced urinary excretion
of magnesium which occurs when a thiazide or loop diuretic is used alone.
Increases in BUN levels have been reported with amiloride hydrochloride and
with hydrochlorothiazide. These increases usually have accompanied vigorous
fluid elimination, especially when diuretic therapy was used in seriously ill
patients, such as those who had hepatic cirrhosis with ascites and metabolic
alkalosis, or those with resistant edema. Therefore, when amiloride and
hydrochlorothiazide is given to such patients, careful monitoring of serum
electrolyte and BUN levels is important. In patients with pre-existing severe
liver disease, hepatic encephalopathy, manifested by tremors, confusion, and
coma, and increased jaundice, have been reported in association with diuretic
therapy including amiloride HCl and hydrochlorothiazide.
In patients with renal disease, diuretics may precipitate azotemia.
Cumulative effects of the components of amiloride hydrochloride and
hydrochlorothiazide may develop in patients with impaired renal function. If
renal impairment becomes evident, amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide should be
discontinued (see CONTRAINDICATIONS and WARNINGS).
Drug Interactions
In some patients, the administration of a non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory agent can reduce the diuretic, natriuretic, and
antihypertensive effects of loop, potassium-sparing and thiazide diuretics.
Therefore, when amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide and non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory agents are used concomitantly, the patient should be observed
closely to determine if the desired effect of the diuretic is obtained. Since
indomethacin and potassium-sparing diuretics, including this product, may each
be associated with increased serum potassium levels, the potential effects on
potassium kinetics and renal function should be considered when these agents are
administered concurrently.
Amiloride HCl
When amiloride HCl is administered concomitantly with an
angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, cyclosporine or tacrolimus, the risk of
hyperkalemia may be increased. Therefore, if concomitant use of these agents is
indicated because of demonstrated hypokalemia, they should be used with caution
and with frequent monitoring of serum potassium. (See WARNINGS.)
Hydrochlorothiazide
When given concurrently the following drugs may interact with
thiazide diuretics.
Alcohol, Barbiturates, or Narcotics: Potentiation
of orthostatic hypotension may occur.
Antidiabetic Drugs (Oral Agents and Insulin):
Dosage adjustment of the antidiabetic drug may be required.
Other Antihypertensive Drugs: Additive effect or
potentiation.
Cholestyramine and Colestipol Resins: Absorption
of hydrochlorothiazide is impaired in the presence of anionic exchange resins.
Single doses of either cholestyramine or colestipol resins bind the
hydrochlorothiazide and reduce its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract by
up to 85 and 43 percent, respectively.
Corticosteroids, ACTH: Intensified electrolyte
depletion, particularly hypokalemia.
Pressor Amines (e.g., Norepinephrine): Possible
decreased response to pressor amines but not sufficient to preclude their
use.
Skeletal Muscle Relaxants, Nondepolarizing (e.g.,
Tubocurarine): Possible increased responsiveness to the muscle
relaxant.
Lithium: Generally should not be given with
diuretics. Diuretic agents reduce the renal clearance of lithium and add a high
risk of lithium toxicity. Refer to the package insert for lithium preparations
before use of such preparations with this combination product.
Metabolic and Endocrine Effects
In diabetic patients, insulin requirements may be increased,
decreased, or unchanged due to the hydrochlorothiazide component. Diabetes
mellitus that has been latent may become manifest during administration of
thiazide diuretics.
Because calcium excretion is decreased by thiazides, amiloride and
hydrochlorothiazide should be discontinued before carrying out tests for
parathyroid function. Pathologic changes in the parathyroid glands, with
hypercalcemia and hypophosphatemia have been observed in a few patients on
prolonged thiazide therapy; however, the common complications of
hyperparathyroidism such as renal lithiasis, bone resorption, and peptic
ulceration have not been seen.
Hyperuricemia may occur or acute gout may be precipitated in certain patients
receiving thiazide therapy.
Other Precautions
In patients receiving thiazides, sensitivity reactions may occur
with or without a history of allergy or bronchial asthma. The possibility of
exacerbation or activation of systemic lupus erythematosus has been reported
with the use of thiazides.
Increases in cholesterol and triglyceride levels may be associated with
thiazide diuretic therapy.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of
Fertility
Long-term studies in animals have not been performed to evaluate
the effects upon fertility, mutagenicity or carcinogenic potential of amiloride
hydrochloride and hydrochlorothiazide.
Amiloride HCl
There was no evidence of a tumorigenic effect when amiloride
hydrochloride was administered for 92 weeks to mice at doses up to 10 mg/kg/day
(25 times the maximum daily human dose). Amiloride hydrochloride has also been
administered for 104 weeks to male and female rats at doses up to 6 and 8
mg/kg/day (15 and 20 times the maximum daily dose for humans, respectively) and
showed no evidence of carcinogenicity.
Amiloride hydrochloride was devoid of mutagenic activity in various strains
of Salmonella typhimurium with or without a mammalian
liver microsomal activation system (Ames test).
Hydrochlorothiazide
Two-year feeding studies in mice and rats conducted under the
auspices of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) uncovered no evidence of a
carcinogenic potential of hydrochlorothiazide in female mice (at doses of up to
approximately 600 mg/kg/day) or in male and female rats (at doses of up to
approximately 100 mg/kg/day). The NTP, however, found equivocal evidence for
hepatocarcinogenicity in male mice.
Hydrochlorothiazide was not genotoxic in vitro in
the Ames mutagenicity assay of Salmonella typhimurium
strains TA 98, TA 100, TA 1535, TA 1537, and TA 1538 and in the Chinese Hamster
Ovary (CHO) test for chromosomal aberrations, or in
vivo in assays using mouse germinal cell chromosomes, Chinese Hamster
bone marrow chromosomes, and the Drosophila
sex-linked recessive lethal trait gene. Positive test results were obtained only
in the in vitro CHO Sister Chromatid Exchange
(clastogenicity) and in the Mouse Lymphoma Cell (mutagenicity) assays, using
concentrations of hydrochlorothiazide from 43 to 1300 µg/mL, and in the Aspergillus nidulans non-disjunction assay at an
unspecified concentration.
Hydrochlorothiazide had no adverse effects on the fertility of mice and rats
of either sex in studies wherein these species were exposed, via their diet, to
doses of up to 100 and 4 mg/kg, respectively, prior to conception and throughout
gestation.
PregnancyTeratogenic Effects. Pregnancy Category B
Teratogenicity studies have been performed with combinations of
amiloride hydrochloride and hydrochlorothiazide in rabbits and mice at doses up
to 25 times the expected maximum daily dose for humans and have revealed no
evidence of harm to the fetus. No evidence of impaired fertility in rats was
apparent at dosage levels up to 25 times the expected maximum human daily dose.
A perinatal and postnatal study in rats showed a reduction in maternal body
weight gain during and after gestation at a daily dose of 25 times the expected
maximum daily dose for humans. The body weights of alive pups at birth and at
weaning were also reduced at this dose level. There are no adequate and
well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies
are not always predictive of human responses, and because of the data listed
below with the individual components, this drug should be used during pregnancy
only if clearly needed.
Amiloride hydrochloride
Teratogenicity studies with amiloride hydrochloride in rabbits
and mice given 20 and 25 times the maximum human dose, respectively, revealed no
evidence of harm to the fetus, although studies showed that the drug crossed the
placenta in modest amounts. Reproduction studies in rats at 20 times the
expected maximum daily dose for humans showed no evidence of impaired fertility.
At approximately 5 or more times the expected maximum daily dose for humans,
some toxicity was seen in adult rats and rabbits and a decrease in rat pup
growth and survival occurred.
HydrochlorothiazideTeratogenic Effects
Studies in which hydrochlorothiazide was orally administered to
pregnant mice and rats during their respective periods of major organogenesis at
doses up to 3000 and 1000 mg hydrochlorothiazide/ kg, respectively, provided no
evidence of harm to the fetus. There are, however, no adequate and
well-controlled studies in pregnant women.
Nonteratogenic Effects
Thiazides cross the placental barrier and appear in cord blood.
There is a risk of fetal or neonatal jaundice, thrombocytopenia, and possibly
other adverse reactions that have occurred in adults.
Nursing Mothers
Studies in rats have shown that amiloride is excreted in milk in
concentrations higher than those found in blood, but it is not known whether
amiloride HCl is excreted in human milk. However, thiazides appear in breast
milk. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants,
a decision should be made whether to discontinue nursing or to discontinue the
drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.
Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been
established.
Geriatric Use
Clinical studies of amiloride hydrochloride and
hydrochlorothiazide tablets did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged
65 and over to determine whether they responded differently from younger
subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in
responses between the elderly and younger patients. In general, dose selection
for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of
the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal
or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.
This drug is known to be substantially excreted by the kidney, and the risk
of toxic reactions to this drug may be greater in patients with impaired renal
function. Because elderly patients are more likely to have decreased renal
function, care should be taken in dose selection, and it may be useful to
monitor renal function. (See CONTRAINDICATIONS: Impaired
Renal Function.)