A prospective observational study of prescription patterns of antihypertensive drugs in geriatric population in a tertiary care hospital.

Abstract

Introduction:Hypertension is one of the major chronic diseases with high mortality and morbidity in todays world. The prevalence of hypertension increases with advancing age. In treating older hypertensive patients, clinicians should be alert to potential side-effects such as orthostatic hypotension and co-existing chronic conditions like Type 2 diabetes mellitus , ischemic heart disease etc. Objective:To assess the drug utilization pattern of antihypertensive drugs in geriatric patients in a teaching hospital and to compare it with the JNC VIII guidelines. Methodology:A single center prospective observational study was carried out for a period of 6 months in medicine out-patient department of BRIMS hospital. The prescription data obtained from study participants was evaluated as per JNC VIII guidelines. Results:A total of 200 prescriptions were analyzed over 6 months. Average age of study population was 68.72 +/- 8.43 years. 56% were female patients. Mean number of antihypertensive drugs prescribed were 1.54+/- 0.62. Most of the patients (56%) were treated with a single antihypertensive drug. The use of calcium channel blockers was predominant in monotherapy as well as 2 or 3 drug regimens. Thiazides and ?- blockers and anigiontensin receptor blockers/ angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors were underutilized. Conclusion:Our study shows that the most commonly prescribed drug class involved calcium channel blockers and the results were only partly in accordance with JNC VIII guidelines.