ABSTRACT
Background: Hypertension is a major cause of premature deaths. The prescription containing antihypertensive drug is increasing day by day associated with other diseases such as diabetes, hyper-cholesterolemia, and cardiovascular disease.
Materials & Methods: A prospective observational study carried out in 200 patients diagnosed with hypertension. Prescribing patterns of all drugs Co-morbid conditions & percentage of monotherapy and combination drug therapy was noted for anti-hypertensive drugs. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) from anti-hypertensive drugs were noted.
Results: Out of 200 patients 132(66%) were male and 68(34%) were female. The mean age of patients was 55.28(+ 12.7) years. The total numbers of drugs prescribed were 1211 to 200 patients. The average number of drugs per prescription was found to be 6.05. A total of 409 anti-hypertensive drugs were prescribed to 200 patients. The most frequently prescribed anti-hypertensive agents were Calcium Channel Blockers (CCB’s) 34.7%; followed by Beta blockers 28.36%, Diuretics 19.07%, Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors(ACE-I) 5.5%, Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB’s) 4.4%,and Alpha Blockers 0.9 %.
Conclusion: Prescription audit is an important mechanism to improve the quality of care offered by hospitals. The information on drug prescribing patterns can provide a framework for continuous prescription audit in a hospital setting. This can help the prescribers to improve patient management by rationalising prescribing practices.
Keywords: Hypertension, Evaluation, Prescription audit.