Drug treatment for hypertension in Finnish primary health care

Abstract

Objective: To analyse the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in Finnish primary health care and to describe the profiles of monotherapy and combination therapy in relation to the duration of high blood pressure.

Methods: Thirty out of 250 primary health care centres were randomly selected for the study. All doctors (n = 337) from the participating health centres recorded all hypertensive patients (n = 4405) during a 2-week period in May 1995. Adequate information was obtained concerning 4294 hypertensives, of whom 65% were women with a mean age for the total study population of 64 years. 85% of the patients (n= 3638) had antihypertensive medication which was classified into five main categories: diuretics, beta blocking agents, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors and hypotensives.

Results: Of the patients using antihypertensive medication, 48% were undergoing monotherapy and 52% combination therapy. Beta blocking agents were the most frequently prescribed drugs for hypertension, being used by half of the patients. ACE inhibitors and diuretics were prescribed in a different manner for male and female hypertensives, with men receiving more ACE inhibitors and women more diuretics. The number of antihypertensive drugs increased with the duration of hypertension, though 38% of the patients having hypertension for over 10 years were still undergoing monotherapy. Among patients undergoing combination therapy, 75% received two different agents, most often a diuretic with a beta blocking agent.

Conclusions: With increasing duration of hypertension, the number of antihypertensive drugs also increased. Beta blocking agents were the drug of choice for all patients. For women, combination therapy more frequently included diuretics, whereas ACE inhibitors were favoured for men.