Pattern of drug utilization among hypertensives and diabeties mellitus patients in a Indian teaching hospital

Abstract
The study was conducted to describe the drug utilization pattern
among hypertensive and diabeties mellitus patients patients in a
tertiary care setting. A cross sectional prospective study was conducted
between 2017-2019 on randomly selected 740 patiens suggering from
hypertension and diabetes mellitus at a tertiary care hospital in North
India. The study reaveled that diuretics were the most frequently
prescribed anti-hypertensive class (49.4%), followed by centrally
acting agents (13.3%), calcium channel blockers (20%), angiotensine
converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (9.6%) and beta blockers (1.9%).
Aspirin was the most frequently prescribed adjoining non-antihypertensive
drugs (39.7%), followed by anxiolytics (23.6%), other
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (14.8%). Diabetes
mellitus was observed to be highest in patients with the age group of
60-70 years, affecting 66% males and 34% females. Among the
participants (84%) were already on treatment for diabetes while (16%)
were diagnosed at the time of admission. We observed that (54%)
patients were treated with insulin + oral hypoglycemic agents, (26%)
were treated with only Insulin while (20%) patients were prescribed
only oral hypoglycemic agents. The most common comorbid
conditions observed by us were hypertension, chronic renal disease,
diabetic foot, septicemia, urinary tract infections and other susceptible
infections. To conclude, the study reveals that Metformin continues to
be the choice of oral hypoglycemic agents with least adverse effects
and insulin was used to treat uncontrolled state, where physicians have
greatly considered the socio-economic status while prescribing which
is obvious with least use of costly insulin preparations.

Author(s): Amit Sharmaa

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