OBJECTIVES: To identify hypertension prescription patterns in a Los Angeles County Latino population, evaluate prevalence of use of foreign antihypertensive drugs, and its association with blood pressure control. METHODS: Data was obtained from the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES), a study designed to assess the prevalence of eye disease and self-reported visual function in Latinos age 40 and older. In total, 1076 patients with self-reported history of hypertension, clinic blood pressure values and available medication profile of drugs taken within the past month were identified for analysis. Antihypertensive drugs were identified and assessed for origin as US or foreign (Mexican, Central or South American), drug class, and total number of antihypertensives used. Chi-square tests were used to test for differences between US and foreign drug groups in terms of utilization of different drug classes, demographic differences, and blood pressure control. RESULTS: Only 50.5% (533/1076) of subjects with history of hypertension were on at least one anti-hypertensive medication. 34.9% of subjects had taken two or more antihypertensives in the past month. A total of 30.2% (161/533) had taken a beta-blocker within the previous month, 32.8% (175/533) an ACE-inhibitor, and 25.0% (133/533) a calcium channel blocker. The prevalence of foreign and US supplied drug use were 1.5% (16/1076) and 48.0% (517/1076) respectively. The difference in blood pressure control between the US and foreign drug use groups was not statistically significant (p=0.1160). CONCLUSIONS: Although foreign medications may be easily accessible, there does not appear to be significant use of foreign antihypertensive medications within this Los Angeles Latino population. The relationship between foreign drug use and blood pressure control was not found to be statistically significant but the result may be due to the limited number of foreign drug use observations.