Adherence To JNC-VII and WHO-ISH guidelines of antihypertensive medications prescribed to hypertensive patients with co-morbid conditions.

The present study aims at comparing the prescribing pattern of antihypertensive drugs in essential hypertension with specific co-morbid conditions with JNC-VII and WHO-ISH guidelines. Adult patients of both sex, who were attending medicine OPD of Shri Krishna Hospital, Karamsad, Gujarat since last 6 months and being prescribed antihypertensive drug/s for hypertension, were selected for the study. Hypertensive patients with co-morbities diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart diseases, congestive heart failure, and chronic renal diseases were included in the study. Adherence to JNC-VII guideline and WHO-ISH guidelines with respect to prescribing antihypertensive drugs in patients with diabetes mellitus were found to be 97% and 40.81% respectively, while it was found to be 72.27% to both the guidelines in patients with IHD. Similarly in cases of hypertension with CHF, adherence to prescribing antihypertensive were found to be 93.62% and 38.30% respectively, whereas for CKD patients, adherence to both guidelines was found to be same i.e. 33.33%. There is need of following such authentic guidelines in managing hypertension like chronic disease since these guidelines are based on various clinical trials and successful attainment of target BP in patients will be much easier by implementing them.