Background: Drug utilization studies conducted at regular intervals help to guide the physician in prescribing drugs rationally. Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted in the outpatient of department of general medicine of NC Medical college & Hospital a tertiary care teaching hospital. Data was collected from patients who have been diagnosed with hypertension as per JNC-8 guidelines and patients receiving or prescribed with antihypertensive medications were included. Frequency and proportions of utilization of antihypertensive medications in were figured. Results: A total of 200 prescriptions were analysed during the eight-month study period. The age of the patients with range 18-80 years. 53.5 % (107) of patients were male and 46.5 % (93) of patients were female. The most common medication prescribed for hypertension in the study was CCBs 19.5 %, significantly higher than dual therapy, triple therapy and poly therapy. The CCBs prescribed pattern was followed by BBs, ACEIs and CCBs. The most frequently prescribed anti-hypertensive fixed dose combination therapy was CCBs+ARB, CCBs + BBs followed by CCB+Diuretic. Among 200 patients’ only 43 patients were reported ADR. Maximum no of ADRs were reported from patients receiving ACE inhibitor. Conclusion: This type of studies gives the base line idea of prescription pattern and ADRs of antihypertensive drugs. These helps to design policy for rational use of drugs and motivation of physician for rational use of drugs.
