Shazia Alam, Huma Ali, Farya Zafar, Rabia Bushra, Maqsood Ahmed.
Hypertension; strategic need to control risk factors and drug rationalization, a cross sectional descriptive study.
Professional Med J Jan ;23(12):1449-54.

Objectives: The study aim was to analyze the awareness of hypertension, life style changes, treatment compliance and drug utilization of antihypertensive drugs among HTN patients. Study Design: The prospective study. Setting: Cardiology Section of a Tertiary Care Private Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Period: Six months. Methods: Approximately 243 HTN patients were enrolled. Patient’s history, demographic descriptions and antihypertensive treatment were recorded through medical profiles. The descriptive statistical data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-20). Results: Out of 243 patients, majority were male (56.8%) with mean age of 59 years. Smoking and physical inactivity (39.5% and 28.8%) were found the two leading environmental risk factors associated to hypertension. Majority of patients were still untreated (53.9%) and only (19.8%) patients treated appropriately. The reasons obtained behind included poor compliance (48.1%) against antihypertensive medicines, less awareness of HTN (23.9%) than unawareness (76.1%) and lack of clinical visits in relation to financial problems (25.1%, 26.7%). Antihypertensive drugs utilized were β-blockers (28%), ACE inhibitors (25.1%), CCBs (20.6%) followed by ARBs (19.8%) and diuretics (6.6%). Conclusion: Hypertension can be overcome by advancement of knowledge, health educational programs, promoting awareness of early recognition and treatment protocol.

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