Abstract

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON DRUG UTILITY PATTERNS OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUGS IN MONOTHERAPY AND COMBINATION THERAPY AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN DAKSHINA KANNADA

Dr. A. R. Shabaraya and Lathika A. Nayak*

.

Abstract

Hypertension, persistent increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure is one of the diseases that has severe impact on body and economy. Rational drug prescribing is the use of the least number of drugs to attain the maximum effect in the smaller period at minimum cost. Main aim and objective of our study was to find out the prescribing patterns of antihypertensives. A prospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Dakshina Kannada for period of 6 months.150 hypertensive patients who were on at least one antihypertensive medication, admitted to in-patient department were included for drug utilization study during the study period. According to the study, 54% of hypertensive subjects were above 60- 75 years of age. 86% of prescription had more than 6 drugs. As per the study, the most frequently prescribed antihypertensive drug was calcium channel blocker (36.10%) - Amlodipine.

Keywords: Antihypertensive drugs, prescription, Amlodipine, Calcium channel blocker.