The usage of anti-hypertensive drugs in the municipality of Jovellanos, province of Matanzas

Abstract

Background: the chronic diseases have become an alarming problem for the human kind because of the high incidence and prevalence they have. The arterial hypertension is, among the chronic diseases, one of the most frequent, with important repercussions in the personal, economic and health order. The failures when following medical prescriptions lead the hypertensive patients to their disease progression, causing an unnecessary increase of the health care cost.
Aim: characterizing the behavior of the hypotensive drugs usage.
Materials and methods: a descriptive, observational study was carried out in the municipality of Jovellanos in a sample formed by 210 hypertensive patients; they were applied a survey to explore the following variables: gender, age, kind of treatment and pharmacological group. The answers were of the kind of choosing or completing simple phrases.
Outcomes: arterial hypertension prevailed in the female gender and in persons aged more than 60 years. The most used procedure was the combined drug treatment with changes in life styles. The most used pharmacological groups were the angiotensin enzyme inhibitors, followed by diuretics, generally as combined therapy.
Conclusions: female geriatric population was the main user of antihypertensive drugs. The combined treatment with two or more drugs was the most frequent one.  The angiotensin enzyme inhibitors and diuretics are among the most used ones.