The effect on blood pressure of the dihydropyridine derivative nicardipine was studied in 87 essential hypertensive patients aged 25-77 years. A total cumulative dose of 8.75 mg nicardipine was administered over a 30-min period by continuous intravenous infusion. The dose was doubled every 10 min from 1.25 to 5.0 mg. The mean blood pressure fall and the heart rate rise were both dose-related. At 30 min, mean blood pressure fell by 18.9 +/- 7.5% vs. baseline values (p less than 0.001), heart rate increased by 28.0 +/- 11.8% (p less than 0.001), and the renin level by 20.7 +/- 32.5% (p less than 0.001). The blood pressure fall was correlated positively with age (r = 0.521; p less than 0.001) and negatively with the rise in heart rate (r = -0.308; p less than 0.01) and renin level (r = -0.205; p = 0.05). After eliminating the linear effects of age by the partial correlation method, blood pressure fall and the initial renin level were no longer correlated (r = -0.046, NS), whereas the positive correlation between age and blood pressure fall persisted after eliminating the effect of renin (r = 0.464; p less than 0.001). The slope of the regression line for the heart rate rise vs. the blood pressure fall was taken to reflect the baroreflex sensitivity. This sensitivity was negatively correlated to age (r = -0.515; n = 51; p less than 0.001) in the 51 of the 87 patients for whom it could be calculated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)