Antihypertensive prescription in a primary care center [PrescripciZapotitlánn de antihipertensivos en un centro de atención primaria]

Background: Choice of antihypertensive drugs for the patient with hypertension may have important economic consequences. Costs differences between some drugs can be high and sometimes do not reflect greater benefits. Diuretics and ?-blockers have been the cheapest. Objective: To identify trends of antihypertensive prescriptions at primary care facility. Material and method: It was performed a survey on a group of hypertensive patients. Results: Two hundred twenty nine prescriptions were evaluated in 182 patients. Seventy six percent were with one drug and 24% received combined therapy. Angiotensin-converting enzime inhibitor (ACEI) was de most commonly prescribed drug (59%) followed by ?-blockers (18.3%), diuretics (14%) and calcium channel blockers (8.3%). Conclusion: Combinations of antihypertensive agents were used very infrequently. ACEI were the most prescribed for blood pressure control