Abstract
Background: Among many public health challenges in the world, hypertension has a very important role to play and even more so in India. In India, hypertension prevalence ranges between 12 and 17% in rural and 20 and 40% among urban adults. For cardiovascular disease and stroke, hypertension is an important risk factor and it alone is responsible for about 50% of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Effective hypertensive treatment yields substantial benefit on these conditions. In achieving this, rational drug prescribing and drug utilization (DU) studies are vital. DU studies and prescription monitoring help in identifying associated problem, yield valuable feedback to the clinician, and thus help in bringing an awareness of the irrational prescribing and thus encouraging rational prescription.

Aim and Objective: This study was fabricated to see the DU pattern of antihypertensive drugs in our teaching hospital.

Materials and Methods: Case records diagnosed with hypertension were collected; the demographic information and prescription pattern were evaluated. The data collected were analyzed using Microsoft Excel software.

Results: Of 93 cases studied, 47 patients were male and 46 were female. The age of the patients in the study ranged from 32 to 87 years. In the study, calcium channel blockers (CCBs) and diuretics were the frontline antihypertensive agents. If the overall DU frequency was considered, then CCBs were the preferred drugs with 87.09% utilization followed by diuretics with 64.71%. The WHO indicators (defined daily doses [DDD], DDD/1000 inhabitant/day) were used.

Conclusion: The DDD/1000 inhabitant/day of amlodipine was the highest (17.5). Mostly, generic medicines were prescribed, which are welcoming and frequent use of generic drugs has to be encouraged.

Key words: Hypertension; Drug Utilization Study; Defined Daily Dose; Calcium Channel Blockers