OBJECTIVES: To investigate the 1) most commonly used antihypertensive drug groups, 2) To determine the preferred drug which suits all age groups and controls symptomatic blood pressure and 3) the antihypertensive drug preferred in co morbid conditions.

METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted in Inpatients diagnosed with cardiac diseases above 18 years of age in Cardiology wards of a tertiary care hospital for a period of 6 months.

RESULTS: Amongst the 285 study subjects results showed a male predominance of 69% (197) over female’s 31% (88).Most of the study subjects belonged to the age group of 51-70 years. 54.7% (156). A total of 3020 drugs comprising 192 unique drugs were used by the study population out of which 648(21.4%) were from the antihypertensive class. Diuretics 296(45.6%) were most commonly prescribed drug in monotherapy, and amongst the combination therapy Calcium channel blockers 12(2%) were found to be leading. Beta blockers 195(30%) and calcium channel blockers 79(12.20%) were most commonly used in patients with hypertension associated cardiovascular disease. Among the concomitant diseases like diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia, angiotensin receptor blockers 38(5.90%), and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors 35 (5.4%) were most commonly used.

CONCLUSIONS: Among the given treatment chart, all drugs were well tolerated and subject response was also found to be satisfactory. Despite the acceptable outcomes, conclusive results cannot be drawn from this study because of the restrictions in study design, more case control or randomized control trials are required to test the aforementioned hypothesis.