Prescription Pattern and Potential Drug-Drug Interactions of Antihypertensive Drugs in a General Hospital, South Ethiopia

Purpose: Selection and use of anti-hypertensive agents are not usually compliant with international guidelines. A prescription based survey is the most effective method to assess and evaluate the prescribing pattern of physicians and dispensing practice of pharmacists; hence, the aim of this study was to assess the prescription pattern of anti-hypertensive drugs in Durame General Hospital. Material and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out from January to February, 2013 on one year patient cards. Records of 250 patients were selected by simple random sampling technique. However, since some of prescriptions are illegible and incomplete, 205 patient records were included in the study. Results: Out of 205 patients, 46 (22.44%) of them were on mono-therapy and 159 (77.56%) on combination therapy. Among patients on combination therapy, 120 (75.5%) and 39(24.5%) were on two and three drugs combination, respectively. Diuretic was the most frequently prescribed drug both as a single agent (65.22%) and as combination therapy (86.8%). Combination therapy significantly reduced blood pressure as compared to mono-therapy. The majority of co-prescribed drugs which have a potential drug interaction with anti-hypertensive agents were NSAIDs (98.21%). Conclusion: Combination therapy was the most prescribed pattern to treat hypertensive patients which is in line with international guidelines. However, majority of patients in pre-hypertensive stage were treated by combination therapy which is not recommended. Hence, physicians should consider when the combination drugs are to be prescribed for hypertensive patients. [Cukurova Med J 2015; 40(4.000): 698-706]