PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATIONS AMONG PHYSICIANS AT KING ABDULAZIZ MEDICAL CITY

Objective: To investigate the antihypertensive prescribing patterns among physicians at KAMC-R. Methods: After each scheduled clinic, a data collector will check all patients who have a diagnosis of hypertension, and then we will screen the patients for eligibility by checking the patient's chart. All patients who were above 18 years, have been diagnosed with hypertension and are taking at least one antihypertensive agent were included. Results: the study included 632 patients where the frequency of the six antihypertensive drug classes were as follow: CCBs (25.14%), Diuretics (21.36%), ARBs (19.57%), ACE inhibitors (16.29%), b-Blockers (14.71%) and other antihypertensive agents (2.93%). Amlodipine was the most common prescribed drug (23.36%) followed by furosemide (12.64%), lisinopril (12.50%), valsartan (10.14%) and metoprolol (9.71%). Conclusion: The most prescribed antihypertensive class was CCBs, and the most prescribed drug is amlodipine. It was also evident that diabetes is the most common co-morbidity in our patients, but CKD is more common in males, in some instances, physicians didn’t adhere to guidelines