Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background:Eighty percent of deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) occur in developing nations. The present study was conducted to assess drug utilization in cardiovascular disease. Materials & Methods:96 medical practitioners were enrolled. Parameters such as average number of drugs per prescription, percentage of the drugs prescribed by their generic names, percentage of the prescriptions with antibiotics prescribed, percentage of the prescriptions with injections prescribed, and percentage of the drugs prescribed from the essential drug list was recorded. Results: Average number of drugs prescribed per prescription (≤3) was seen in 11%, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name (100%) in 34%, percentage of prescriptions with an antibiotic prescribed (≤30%) in 35%, percentage of prescriptions with an injection prescribed (≤10%) in 98% and percentage of drugs prescribed from the national EDL (100%) in 96%. Cardiovascular drugs prescribed were ACE inhibitors in 75%, beta blockers in 40%, calcium channel blockers in 12%, antiplatelets in 82%, anticoagulants in 58%, thrombolytics in 15%, diuretics in 63% and statin in 80%. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Antiplatelets, anticoagulants, thrombolytics, ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, diuretics, and statins were among the cardiovascular medications recommended.