Arq. Bras. Cardiol

p.328-331 Submitted by Texeira Ana (atanateixeira@gmail.com) on 2012-06-29T19:40:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Macedo, Cristiano Ricardo Bastos de.pdf: 1890586 bytes, checksum: 8587af29f6b3df1cab439013e3b27e4c (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2012-06-29T19:40:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Macedo, Cristiano Ricardo Bastos de.pdf: 1890586 bytes, checksum: 8587af29f6b3df1cab439013e3b27e4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10 Objective - To evaluate the frequency of oral antihypertensive medication preceding the increase in blood pressure in patients in a university hospital, the drug of choice, and the maintained use of antihypertensive medication. Methods - Data from January to June 1997 from the University Hospital Professor Edgard Santos Pharmacy concerning the prescriptions of all inpatients were used. Variables included in the analysis were: antihypertensive medication prescription preceding increase in blood pressure, type of antihypertensive medication, gender, clinical or surgical wards, and the presence of maintained antihypertensive medication. Results - The hospital admitted 2,532 patients, 1,468 in surgical wards and 818 in medical wards. Antihypertensive medication prescription preceding pressure increase was observed in 578 patients (22.8%). Nifedipine was used in 553(95.7%) and captopril in 25 (4.3%). In 50.7% of patients, prescription of antihypertensive medication was not associated with maintained antihypertensive medication. Prescription of antihypertensive drugs preceding elevation of blood pressure was significantly (p