Utilization of Evidence-Based Therapies and prescribing patterns among patients receiving anti- hypertensive agents in Hospital Serdang

Introduction: Hypertension is recognized as a major global problem. It affects every aspect of the patient’s quality of life, and employment and can even cause premature death. Its growing prevalence and poor control represent a huge health challenge worldwide. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the utilization of evidence-based anti-hypertensive agents in the management of hypertensive patients in Hospital Serdang. This study was conducted retrospectively from July 2019 to August 2019. Methodology: The study subjects were screened and reemitted using a random sampling method according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Selected patient data was retrieved from Hospital Serdang's online eHIS Live system. Results: Out of 106 patients, 14 patients were excluded due to incomplete information on medical records, patients following up at other hospitals, and pregnant women. The study results showed that adherence to the guidelines when prescribing combination therapies was seen more than in monotherapy. The majority of subjects did not receive antihypertensive treatment according to co-morbidities. However, only stroke showed high adherence to the guideline. Most of the subjects adhered to guidelines when there was a presence of contraindications. The median (IQR) GAI score was 40. In this study, GAI score was divided into 3 categories, 13 (15.9%) of the patients have a good adherence (80-100%), 23 (28%) have moderate adherence (50-79%) and 46 (56.11%) have poor adherence (0-49%) to the guideline. Conclusion: Among 82 studied patients, more than half of the patients were not treated according to guidelines, while only 13 of the subjects were categorized as having good adherence to guidelines. This study indicated that there is a need to introduce an educational program for prescribers in hospitals and collaborative interventions between clinical pharmacist and physicians.