title: Trends and patterns of five antihypertensive drug classes between 2007 and 2012 in China using hospital prescription data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine prescription trends and patterns in five antihypertensive drug classes during 2007 - 2012 in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective time series data was investigated from 2007 to 2012. Prescription data of five classes of antihypertensive drugs (calcium channel blockers (CCBs), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), β-blockers, and diuretics) were accessed from the Hospital Prescription Analysis Program Database, including 59 hospitals in four cities in China. The drugs were coded using the Anatomic Chemical Therapeutic (ATC) classification. Quantities were standardized using the defined daily dose (DDD) measurement methodology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number of DDDs of the five classes of antihypertensive drugs prescribed in the sample hospitals increased by 83.3% and the total cost of antihypertensive drugs increased by 92.4% from 2007 to 2012. During the whole study period, CCBs, ARBs, ACEIs, β-blockers, and diuretics represented in DDDs 42.8%, 28.3%, 13.3%, 10.8%, and 4.8%, respectively, of the total five classes of anti-hypertensive drugs. The average annual increase rate of ARBs, β-blockers, CCBs, ACEIs, and diuretics, in DDDs, was 23.4%, 13.3%, 13.2%, 1.4%, and -4.2%, respectively
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The consumption of the five classes of antihypertensive drugs in China nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012. The top-prescribed antihypertensive drug classes were CCBs and ARBs, and the latter increased most rapidly.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Lingcheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002681:China; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000639:trends; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents