Publication:

Drug utilization study of anti-hypertensive drugs at a tertiary care hospital

Background The increasing prevalence of hypertension influence the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drug. Prescribing against evidence-based guidelines in hypertension treatment leads to the increase cost of medications and problems in providing affordable prescriptions to population. The aim of present study was to analyse anti-hypertensive prescribing pattern in Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.

Methods Study was prospective, observational, open label and descriptive clinical study. It included 336 patients admitted in MICU during January 2018 to June 2019 fulfilling inclusion criteria.

Results 54.46% patients were between 51-70 years of age, followed by 33.63% in 31 to 50 age group. Of total enrolled hypertensive patients 69% patients had various comorbidities. Drug prescribed was 28.27% ARBs, 26.84% CCBs, 17.62% beta blockers, 6.14% high ceiling diuretics, 4.50% ACE inhibitors, 2.45% thiazide diuretics and 2.04% received alpha blocker. As monotherapy, 31.82% patients received telmisartan as most commonly prescribed drug followed by 27.31% patients received Amlodipine followed by other drugs. In combination therapy telmisartan and hydrochlorothiazide was prescribed most commonly followed by beta blocker and CCB and ARB and CCB. 33.60% of drugs were prescribed in generic names while 66.39% of drugs prescribed in brand names. Average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 1.45 of which 33.60% of drugs were prescribed by generic names.

Conclusions With average number of drugs per prescription in hypertension 1.45, the study showed that poly pharmacy is unavoidable in hypertension due to associated comorbid conditions.