Prevalence of Beta Blockers Use in Elderly for Uncomplicated Hypertension

Objective: The study was conducted to identify the prescribing practices in essential hypertension to find out prescribing patterns in elderly patients. Material and methods: A retrospective study was done to assess the pattern and prescription of antihypertensive drugs at Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College and Hospital, Kumarhatti Solan (H.P) A total of 100 handwritten prescriptions of patients >60 yrs of age were randomly chosen from the hospital pharmacy during 8-week period in the month of July-August 2014 and were analyzed. Results: An analysis of 100 prescriptions revealed that diuretics were the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive drugs (28.15%), followed by calcium channel blockers(21.35%), beta blockers (20.5 %), ACE inhibitors (18.93%), Angiotensin receptor blockers(9.22%), combined alpha and beta blockers(1.45%) while alpha blockers were the least prescribed drugs(0.97%). The doses of the drugs were standard doses as outlined in the JNC7 report. The frequency of dose prescribed was: once daily 72%: twice daily 27% and thrice daily 1%. Prescriptions for monotherapy were 38% whereas in remaining 62% prescriptions a combination of 2 or more drugs was prescribed. In 63% prescriptions, generic name of the drugs was used whereas in remaining 37%, non-generic name was used. Prevalence of hypertension was found to be higher in men (65%). Conclusion: The most common drug group used was diuretics followed by calcium channel blockers, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, Angiotensin receptor blockers. Polypharmacy and use of nongeneric drugs was much common.