title: Patterns of anti-hypertensive therapy in diabetic patients with and without reduced renal function.
abstract: Renal function deterioration is a common complication in patients with diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Appropriate use of anti-hypertensive agents and tight control of blood pressure (BP) can minimize and delay such complications. This study was performed in order to investigate the utilization patterns of anti-hypertensive agents and to evaluate BP control among diabetic-hypertensive patients with and without reduced renal function. In a retrospective cohort study, all diabetic-hypertensive patients attending The Al-Watani Medical Governmental Center from August 01, 2006 until August 01, 2007 were enrolled in the study. Patients with congestive heart failure and/or end-stage renal disease were excluded from the study. The proportion of use of five different anti-hypertensive drug classes were compared for all patients receiving 1, 2, 3, or 4 drugs, and separately among patients with and without reduced renal function. Over 60% of patients were receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), followed by diuretics (40.8%), calcium channel blockers (25.1%) and (beta-blockers (12.5%). The majority of patients (> 55%) were either on mono or no drug therapy. Patients on monotherapy were mostly receiving ACEI/ARB (60%). In patients with reduced renal function, use of diuretics, but not ACEI/ARB or CCB, was higher and 41.8% of the patients were on monotherapy compared to 46.6% in patients with normal renal function. The proportion of patients achieving good BP control was 20% with mono-therapy and 28% with combination therapy. Our study suggests that the pattern of anti-hypertensive therapy was generally consistent with inter-national guidelines. Areas of improvement include increasing use of ACEI/ARB and diuretics, decreasing the number of untreated patients, and increasing the proportion of patients with well controlled BP in this population.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacy Graduate Program, Nablus, Palestine. waleedsweileh@najah.edu
authors.forename: Waleed M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Sweileh
authors.forename: Ansam F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Sawalha
authors.forename: Sa'ed H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zyoud
authors.forename: Samah W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Al-Jabi
authors.forename: Eman J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Tameem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents