Abstract

Abstract Objective: The objectives of the study are to assess and evaluate the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in patients of a tertiary care teaching hospital,to compare the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in hypertension and co-morbid conditions with JNC-8 and to determine the distribution of co-morbidities in hypertensive patients. Methodology: This prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months. Prescriptions of hypertensive patients admitted in the medicine ward with at least one antihypertensive drug prescribed were collected and were documented in a separate data collection form. The obtained data will be analyzed for average number of antihypertensive drugs per prescription, class of antihypertensive drugs prescribed, distribution of patients according to gender, mode of therapy and distribution of co-morbidities. Appropriateness of the prescription will be analyzed as per JNC-8 guideline. Result: In our study it was found that the age group of 60-69 years had the higher incidence of hypertension with male patients more prominent than females. Most of the patient had the BP range of 140-149/90-99mmHg. Co-morbidities were observed in almost all prescriptions, DM was prominent among them. Combination therapy was preferred over monotherapy. Two drug regimens were commonly prescribed among the combination therapy. The prescription showed weak adherence to various recommendations of JNC 8. Conclusion: The study concluded that prescribing guidelines should be followed by physicians for better health outcome and improvement in quality of life of patient suffering from hypertension and co-morbidities because these guidelines are based on vigorously conducted various clinical trials

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