A Study of Prescription Pattern and Compliance of Anti-hypertensives with the Treatment Guidelines in Aseer Region; Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: A prescription study is an effective method to evaluate irrational prescribing practice. Hypertension is one such major chronic disease. Compliance to guidelines like the JNC-8 (Eighth Joint National Committee) and Saudi Hypertension guidelines is highly recommended to prevent future complications. OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to assess prescribing pattern and their compliance with the guidelines in the patients. METHODS: A Retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out for 7 weeks in 2017 in Aseer region, Abha, Saudi Arabia on 122 outpatient prescriptions which were included by Non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data from patients aged above 18 years with any stage of Hypertension with or without Diabetes Mellitus was collected. RESULTS: It was found that Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors were frequently prescribed as monotherapy in patients with Hypertension with or without Diabetes Mellitus which is in compliance to the guidelines. Beta-blockers were most commonly used in 2 and 3 drug therapy of patients with only Hypertension which was not in accordance with the guidelines. CONCLUSION: By this it could be concluded that the Prescription pattern of Anti-hypertensive in Aseer Region was in compliance with both the guidelines to a partial extent. Though most of the prescriptions were rational, further improvement was required. Studies that focus on demographic data, economic status, associated conditions and complications would give additional insights into prescribing patterns in hypertension.