Prescribing Pattern of Antihypertensive Drugs in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Northern India

Background: Hypertension is a globally prevalent disease and is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular and renal diseases. Of late there has been a rapid increase in the number of drugs in the management of hypertension. Aim of the study: To analyse the prescribing pattern of anti-hypertensive drugs in hypertension alone or with co-morbid conditions. Methods: A descriptive drug utilization study was conducted on 297 randomly selected prescriptions of hypertensive patients attending the medical OPD at tertiary care hospital, Govt. Medical College Jammu for a period of 6 months. Prescriptions of hypertensive patients already on antihypertensive drugs were included in the study for analysis. socio-demographic characteristics and the prescribing pattern of antihypertensive drugs were studied. Results: Evaluation of prescriptions revealed that Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors (ACE Inhibitors) were most commonly prescribed (33.6%) followed by Calcium Channel Blockers (30.5%) , beta blockers (13.7%), Angiotension Receptor Blockers (11.5%) and diuretics (9.2%) among the first line drugs as monotherapy . The combination therapy was prescribed to 55.29% and the most frequent combination was of CCBs and ACE inhibitors. Diabetes mellitus was the most common co-morbid condition (70%). Drugs were prescribed according to the WHO essential drug list. However, thiazides were less prescribed.