DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 416-418

The choice of drug for the treatment of hypertension changes at short intervals. Drug utilization studies conducted at regular intervals help to guide the physician in prescribing drugs rationally. The present study was done to analyze the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in a South Indian tertiary care hospital. A retrospective, cross sectional analysis of prescriptions of antihypertensive cases admitted in Medicine in-patient wards of S. Nijalingappa Medical College and HSK Hospital and Research Centre was conducted. All the prescription files with diagnosis of essential hypertension were analyzed. Prescriptions for hypertension with other co-morbid conditions were also included. Frequency and proportions of utilization of antihypertensive medications were charted and figured. During the study period, there were 200 prescriptions for essential hypertension. The most frequently prescribed antihypertensive medications were: Calcium channel blockers (49%) followed by diuretics (43.5%), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (29.5%) beta blockers (29%)and angiotensin receptor blockers (21%). 51% of patients were on multiple drug therapy, the most favored fixed drug combination being diuretics with angiotensin receptor blockers (25.4%). Among the hypertensive cases with co-existing diabetes mellitus type II, the most prescribed class of drugs was diuretics (43.8%) followed by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (40.4%)