Prescribing patterns of anti-hypertensive medications at PHC clinic Pedurungan, Semarang

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide and can cause complications such as stroke,
coronary heart disease and kidney failure. The number of hypertension sufferers in 2018 was higher than in 2013 at
8.31%. Control of hypertension includes non-pharmacological therapy and pharmacological therapy. Pharmacological
treatment must be supported by adequate drug availability, so knowing the drug prescribing pattern in a health facility is
necessary. This study aims to determine the design of antihypertensive prescribing at the Pedurungan PHC Clinic,
Semarang. This research is a type of descriptive observational study using retrospective data in the form of prescription
sheets containing antihypertensives from October to December 2022. The data taken in this study were age, gender,
antihypertensive name, and number of antihypertensive items. Data were analyzed by classification according to
gender, age, antihypertensive name, antihypertensive combination, and antihypertensive group, and quantitatively by
calculating the percentage. The results showed 137 prescriptions with 187 antihypertensive agents within the period.
Hypertension in women was higher than in men (52.83%). The highest prevalence of hypertension was 56 – 65 years old. The pattern of prescribing resulted in the monotherapy being higher than combination therapy. Amlodipine 10 mg (28.26%) was the most widely used in a single treatment. The antihypertensive groups showed that calcium channel blockers had the highest presentation (49.63%) while angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were used the least, namely 2.19%. The most widely used antihypertensive combination therapy is a combination of two types of antihypertensive groups, namely calcium channel blockers and angiotensin receptor blockers, with a percentage of 15.33%. This research concluded that monotherapy was more used than combination therapy, and amlodipine 10 mg was the highest presentation in hypertension patients at PHC Clinic, Pedurungan, Semarang.