General:
Serum Electrolyte Abnormalities:
Spironolactone can cause hyperkalemia. The risk of hyperkalemia may be increased in patients with renal insufficiency, diabetes mellitus or with concomitant use of drugs that raise serum potassium (see Drug Interactions). Hydrochlorothiazide can cause hypokalemia and hyponatremia. The risk of hypokalemia may be increased in patients with cirrhosis, brisk diuresis, or with concomitant use of drugs that lower serum potassium. Hypomagnesemia can result in hypokalemia which appears difficult to treat despite potassium repletion. Monitor serum electrolytes periodically.
Other Metabolic Disturbances:
Hydrochlorothiazide may alter glucose tolerance and raise serum levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.
Hydrochlorothiazide may raise the serum uric acid level due to reduced clearance of uric acid and may cause or exacerbate hyperuricemia and precipitate gout in susceptible patients.
Hydrochlorothiazide decreases urinary calcium excretion and may cause elevations of serum calcium. Monitor calcium levels in patients with hypercalcemia receiving ALDACTAZIDE.
Gynecomastia:
Gynecomastia may develop in association with the use of spironolactone; physicians should be alert to its possible onset. The development of gynecomastia appears to be related to both dosage level and duration of therapy and is normally reversible when ALDACTAZIDE is discontinued. In rare instances, some breast enlargement may persist when ALDACTAZIDE is discontinued.
Somnolence:
Somnolence and dizziness have been reported to occur in some patients. Caution is advised when driving or operating machinery until the response to initial treatment has been determined.
Drug interactions:
ACE inhibitors, Angiotensin II receptor antagonists, aldosterone blockers, potassium supplements, heparin, low molecular weight heparin, and other drugs known to cause hyperkalemia:
Concomitant administration may lead to severe hyperkalemia.
Alcohol, barbiturates, or narcotics: Potentiation of orthostatic hypotension may occur.
Antidiabetic drugs (e.g., oral agents, insulin): Dosage adjustment of the antidiabetic drug may be required (see Precautions).
Corticosteroids, ACTH: Intensified electrolyte depletion, particularly hypokalemia, may occur.
Pressor amines (e.g., norepinephrine): Both spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide reduce the vascular responsiveness to norepinephrine. Therefore, caution should be exercised in the management of patients subjected to regional or general anesthesia while they are being treated with ALDACTAZIDE.
Skeletal muscle relaxants, nondepolarizing (e.g., tubocurarine): Possible increased responsiveness to the muscle relaxant may result.
Lithium: Lithium generally should not be given with diuretics. Diuretic agents reduce the renal clearance of lithium and add a high risk of lithium toxicity.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): In some patients, the administration of an NSAID can reduce the diuretic, natriuretic, and antihypertensive effects of loop, potassium-sparing, and thiazide diuretics. Combination of NSAIDs, e.g., indomethacin, with potassium-sparing diuretics has been associated with severe hyperkalemia. Therefore, when ALDACTAZIDE and NSAIDs are used concomitantly, the patient should be observed closely to determine if the desired effect of the diuretic is obtained.
Acetylsalicylic acid: Acetylsalicylic acid may reduce the efficacy of spironolactone. Therefore, when ALDACTAZIDE and acetylsalicylic acid are used concomitantly, ALDACTAZIDE may need to be titrated to higher maintenance dose and the patient should be observed closely to determine if the desired effect is obtained.
Digoxin: Spironolactone has been shown to increase the half-life of digoxin. This may result in increased serum digoxin levels and subsequent digitalis toxicity. Monitor serum digoxin levels and adjust dose accordingly. Thiazide-induced electrolyte disturbances, i.e. hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, increase the risk of digoxin toxicity, which may lead to fatal arrhythmic events (see Precautions).
Cholestyramine: Hyperkalemic metabolic acidosis has been reported in patients given spironolactone concurrently with cholestyramine.
Abiraterone: Spironolactone binds to the androgen receptor and may increase prostate‑specific antigen (PSA) levels in abiraterone-treated prostate cancer patients. Concomitant use of spironolactone is not recommended.
Carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, impairment of fertility:
Spironolactone:
Orally administered spironolactone has been shown to be a tumorigen in dietary administration studies performed in Sprague Dawley rats, with its proliferative effects manifested on endocrine organs and the liver. In an 18-month study using doses of about 50, 150, and 500 mg/kg/day, there were statistically significant increases in benign adenomas of the thyroid and testes and, in male rats, a dose-related increase in proliferative changes in the liver (including hepatocytomegaly and hyperplastic nodules). In 24-month studies in which rats were administered doses of about 10, 30, 100, and 150 mg spironolactone/kg/day, the range of proliferative effects included significant increases in hepatocellular adenomas and testicular interstitial cell tumors in males, and significant increases in thyroid follicular cell adenomas and carcinomas in both sexes. There was also a statistically significant increase in benign uterine endometrial stromal polyps in females.
A dose-related (above 30 mg/kg/day) incidence of myelocytic leukemia was observed in rats fed daily doses of potassium canrenoate (a compound chemically similar to spironolactone and whose primary metabolite, canrenone, is also a major product of spironolactone in man) for a period of one year. In two year studies in the rat, oral administration of potassium canrenoate was associated with myelocytic leukemia and hepatic, thyroid, testicular, and mammary tumors.
Neither spironolactone nor potassium canrenoate produced mutagenic effects in tests using bacteria or yeast. In the absence of metabolic activation, neither spironolactone nor potassium canrenoate has been shown to be mutagenic in mammalian tests in vitro. In the presence of metabolic activation, spironolactone has been reported to be negative in some mammalian mutagenicity tests in vitro and inconclusive (but slightly positive) for mutagenicity in other mammalian tests in vitro. In the presence of metabolic activation, potassium canrenoate has been reported to test positive for mutagenicity in some mammalian tests in vitro, inconclusive in others, and negative in still others.
In a three-litter reproduction study in which female rats received dietary doses of 15 and 50 mg spironolactone/kg/day, there were no effects on mating and fertility, but there was a small increase in incidence of stillborn pups at 50 mg/kg/day. When injected into female rats (100 mg/kg/day for 7 days, i.p.), spironolactone was found to increase the length of the estrous cycle by prolonging diestrus during treatment and inducing constant diestrus during a two week posttreatment observation period. These effects were associated with retarded ovarian follicle development and a reduction in circulating estrogen levels, which would be expected to impair mating, fertility, and fecundity. Spironolactone (100 mg/kg/day), administered i.p. to female mice during a two week cohabitation period with untreated males, decreased the number of mated mice that conceived (effect shown to be caused by an inhibition of ovulation) and decreased the number of implanted embryos in those that became pregnant (effect shown to be caused by an inhibition of implantation), and at 200 mg/kg, also increased the latency period to mating.
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 in vitro assays using strains TA 98, TA 100, TA 1535, TA 1537, and TA 1538 of Salmonella typhimurium (Ames assay) and in the Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) test for chromosomal aberrations, or in in vivo 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 mating and throughout gestation.
Nursing mothers:
Canrenone, a major (and active) metabolite of spironolactone, appears in human breast milk. Because spironolactone has been found to be tumorigenic in rats, a decision should be made whether to discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother. If use of the drug is deemed essential, an alternative method of infant feeding should be instituted.
Thiazides are excreted in human milk in small amounts. Thiazides when given at high doses can cause intense diuresis which can in turn inhibit milk production. The use of ALDACTAZIDE during breast feeding is not recommended. If ALDACTAZIDE is used during breast feeding, doses should be kept as low as possible.