Evaluation of Prescribing Trends in Ambulatory Cardiac Patients above 50 Years of Age in Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Cardiovascular problems are major cause of mortality in 85% of under developing countries. In Pakistan, elderly patients suffer with a number of cardiovascular problems like hypertension, myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease; co-morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemias can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems. A concurrent, cross sectional study was designed to identify the incidence rate of cardiovascular problems, the associated co-morbid conditions and the pattern of drug prescribing among ambulatory cardiovascular patients (age ≥ 50 years). A total of 190 prescriptions were collected from various tertiary care hospitals of Lahore from September 2013 to November 2013 and were analyzed for prescribing practices. Our study concluded that most of the elderly patients were suffering with Myocardial infarction (35.7%) and Ischemic heart disease (35.7%). Hypertension (25.7%) and diabetes mellitus (13.6%) were the most frequent co-morbid conditions observed. The most commonly prescribed drugs in these patients were anti-platelets (85.2%), anti-hyperlipidemics (84.2%) and beta blockers (78.9%). Only 23% prescriptions were prescribed by generic name whereas dose, frequency and duration were mentioned in almost all prescriptions. Cardiovascular problems are approximately twice as frequent in patients with co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension compared with patients without these co-morbidities. Therefore, in patients with co-existing co-morbidities strategies should be adopted for primary prevention and optimal control of these risk factors along with cardiovascular problems management.All copyrights reserved to Nexus® academic publishers

Stable Angina Treatment Strategies and Current Practices in Lahore, Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…Stable chronic angina is an ischemic heart disease defined as a medical condition characterized by the symptoms of chest pain, sensation of pressure, pain in jaws, left shoulder, left arm, over the sternum, lower cervical and upper thoracic (Bukhsh et al, 2014). Chronic stable angina has a predictable course of occurrence, predominantly, associated with exertion or emotional events culminating in a transient myocardial ischemia resulting in the precipitation of sensations of pressure or hard squeezing, vaguely localized, in the sub-sternal chest region.…”

“…Temperature is also an exaggerating factor of chest pain. Cold environment may induce chest pain due to reduction in the blood supply and vasoconstriction (Bukhsh et al, 2014). Angina is also precipitated by certain uncommon or rare events including congenital anomalies, hypertrophic cardiac myopathy and some physiological states requiring high output like severe anemia.…”

“…In addition, mortality rate due to cardiovascular problems is 85% in developing countries and observed that cardiovascular diseases arise mostly due to co-morbid conditions. The most prevalent co-morbidities are HTN (47.7%), DM (40.5%), Hyperlipidemias (6.3%), COPD (3.6%), hepatitis (0.9%), pulmonary edema (0.9%) and case of IHD the mainly are HTN (29%) and DM (19%) (Bukhsh et al, 2014).…”