Cost Evaluation of Commonly Prescribed Antihypertensive Drugs and the Pattern of Prescription among Doctors in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital

Pharmacological anti-hypertensive prescriptions of 600 randomly selected mild to moderate hypertensive patients were reviewed for 3 years in four Clinics of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital namely Cardiology, Endocrine, Nephrology and Neurology Clinics. Calcium channel blockers were the most frequently prescribed drugs (24.8%) followed by Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (12.5%). Others included combined Amiloride/Hydrochlorothiazide (Co-amilozide) (10.6%), Alpha methyl dopa (10%), Beta Blockers (8.5%), combination of Co-amilozide and Alpha methyl dopa (6.8%), Co-amilozide,Calcium channel/Beta blockers (6.0%) etc. Brand name prescription was predominantly high in all the four Clinics (Cardiology 87.4%, Endocrine - 86.8%, Nephrology 74.6% and Neurology 87.9%) as compared to low generic prescription. The overall Brand name prescription was (83.4%) compared with Generic of (16%). The monthly cost difference between Generic anti-hypertensive single drug treatment and Brand named single drug treatment was between N500.00 to N600.00. It was concluded that the prescribing of the new generation drugs i.e. Calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors with supposedly little or no metabolic side effects is a new trend which should be scientifically evaluated vis--vis cost effectiveness and adverse drug reaction. It was also concluded that generic prescription should be encouraged among prescribers to lessen the financial burden of patients because drugs marketed under generic names are usually cheaper than those with brand names. Key words: Brand, Generic,Prescription, Antihypertensives,Cost. [Nig. Jnl Health & Biomedical Sciences Vol.1(2) 2002: 68-70