Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part A (2020)

Introduction: Hypertension (HPT) is a major public health issue because of its high prevalence and serious complications. Appropriate and timely management using pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapy is essential to minimize complications and death resulting from hypertension.

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional retrospective study involving 90 patients was employed in this study. Data was collected through the administration of semi structured questionnaires from 1st July to 31st October, 2019. Case notes of the patients were also reviewed to obtain additional information and also to confirm and validate the clients’ responses. The classes of Antihypertensive Agents (AHA) commonly used in this study are calcium channel blockers (CCB), diuretics (DIU), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB), and beta blockers (BB). Centrally acting agents (CAA) and vasodilators (VAS) are used sparingly.

Result and discussion: Clients’ pharmacological management was frequently initiated with of the patients on monotherapy, 76.4% (34/47) were on CCB, 9.8% (6/47) were on DIU, 6.0% (5/47) were on BB, with ACEI, ARB and CAA contributing 4.8%. Dual- and three-drug therapies are also used in initiating management. Among the CCB, Nifedipine was the most prescribed both in the initially (70.4%) and after study AHA (56.3%). Atenolol was the most prescribed among the BB with 82.3% baseline prescriptions. In the after study prescription there was an increase to 98.2%. In case of DIU prescription, Furosemide accounted for 4.9% and Bendrofluazide 92.1% in the baseline AHA prescriptions. Aspirin 44 (46.8%) was the most prescribed non-AHA. The target or goal blood pressure (BP) for hypertension patients from World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) and European Society of Hypertension/European Society of Cardiology (ESH/ESC) guidelines is <130/85 mmHg.

Conclusion: AHA in use at the Pacific Medical College and Hospital and prescription pattern are in accordance with that of the national guidelines.