OBJECTIVES: To analyze the current situation of drug use of patients with chronic diseases (hypertension and diabetes) in Shanghai, and evaluate the drug use rationality among all levels of medical institutions.   METHODS: Using the indicators of defined daily doses (DDDs) and defined daily consumption (DDDc) recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), we conducted statistical analysis on the amount, price, dose of the antihypertensive drugs and antidiabetic drugs purchased from November 2013 to October 2014 in the Pharmaceutical Bidding Database of Shanghai. The defined daily dose (DDD) used in this study is according to the WHO recommended value, Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2015), New Drug Studies, and the drug instructions in certain cases. RESULTS: The analysis of the pattern of drug utilization shows that hydropyridine is used most frequently (36.17%) among all the antihypertensive drugs, followed by the ARB, compound preparations with fixed ratio and ACEI; sulfonylureas is used most frequently (53.84%) among all the antidiabetic drugs, followed by insulin and metformin. The analysis of the purchase amount shows that, the amount of antihypertensive drugs purchased by the primary, secondary and tertiary medical institutions is ￥1383 million, ￥547 million and ￥636 million respectively; the amount of antidiabetic drugs purchased by the primary, secondary and tertiary medical institutions is￥573 million, ￥322 million and ￥339 million respectively. Additionally, we sorted the DDDs by generic name and found the most frequently used antihypertensive drugs are amlodipine, L-amlodipine and valsartan; the most frequently used antidiabetic drugs are gliclazide, glimepiride and recombinant human insulin. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes) primarily get the drug prescribed in the community health centers in Shanghai. CCB, ARB and compound preparations are the most frequently used antihypertensive drugs, while diuretics is seldom used. Sulfonylureas, insulin and metformin are the most frequently used antidiabetic drugs, and sulfonylureas is used more frequently.