Descriptive Analysis of the Medication Complexity Among Hypertensive Patients in Tertiary Hospital Cardiology Departments in China: A Real-World Study.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically analyze the comorbidity status, polypharmacy patterns, and potential medication risks among hypertensive patients attending cardiology departments in tertiary hospitals in China based on real-world outpatient prescription data, providing real-world evidence to describe the medication complexity in this population.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was employed. Prescription data of hypertensive patients from the cardiology outpatient departments of 56 tertiary hospitals in mainland China in 2017 were extracted. Diagnosis data, medication data, potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) and potential drug-drug interactions (pDDI) were analyzed. Continuous variables were compared using t‑tests or Mann-Whitney U tests and reported as mean ± standard deviation or median (interquarile range). Linear regression assessed age‑related trends in medication counts. All tests were two‑sided with α = 0.05.

RESULTS

83.3% of patients had at least one other comorbid condition. The average number of medications per patient was 7.44 ± 5.98, showing a positive correlation with age. Among elderly patients, 10%-15% were exposed to PIMs, and we identified 12 clinically significant pDDI pairs in the cardiology outpatient prescription scenario.

CONCLUSIONS

Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are prevalent among hypertensive patients attending cardiology departments in tertiary hospitals in China. These findings serve as a historical baseline rather than direct clinical guidance. Based on the high prevalence of PIMs in elderly patients and typical clinically significant pDDI identified in this cohort, targeted medication safety strategies (including tailored Medication Therapy Management for multimorbid hypertensive patients and appropriate deprescribing of high-risk agents in the elderly) are suggested to optimize patient-centered comorbidity management.