Thiazide diuretics inhibit this receptor, causing the body to release NaCl and water into the lumen, thereby increasing the amount of urine produced each day.

[8] Thiazide diuretics are primarily used to treat the hypertension (high blood pressure) and edema (swelling) caused by water overload as well as certain conditions related to unbalanced calcium metabolism.

[12] A systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration specifically recommended that low-dose thiazides be used as the initial pharmacological therapy for high blood pressure.

[9] Low-dose thiazides are more effective at treating hypertension than beta blockers and are similar to angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.

[14] Thiazides have also been replaced by ACE inhibitors in Australia due to the association between thaizide use and increased risk of developing diabetes mellitus type 2.

Thiazides combined with potassium citrate, increased water intake and decreased dietary oxalate and sodium can slow or even reverse the formation of calcium-containing kidney stones.

[18] High-dose therapy with the thiazide-like diuretic indapamide can be used to treat idiopathic hypercalcinuria (high urine calcium with unknown cause).

[20] Higher levels of retained calcium are associated with increased bone mineral density and fewer fractures in individuals with osteoporosis.

[20] By a poorly understood mechanism, thiazides directly stimulate osteoblast differentiation and bone mineral formation, further slowing the course of osteoporosis.

[21] Thiazides may be used to treat the symptoms of Dent's disease, an X-linked genetic condition that results in electrolyte imbalance with repeated episodes of kidney stones.

[27][29] Thiazide diuretics control hypertension in part by inhibiting reabsorption of sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl−) ions from the distal convoluted tubules in the kidneys by blocking the thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl− symporter.

[35] The thiazide diuretics were developed by scientists Karl H. Beyer, James M. Sprague, John E. Baer, and Frederick C. Novello of Merck and Co. in the 1950s,[36] and led to the marketing of the first drug of this class, chlorothiazide, under the trade name Diuril in 1958.