Hypertension Management in the District Hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

A study was conducted in three District Hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, namely Temeke, Mwananyamala and Amana. Six hundred prescriptions were analyzed. The average number of drugs per prescription was found to be 3.4 (range 2.9-4.1) while the average number of antihypertensive drugs per prescription was 2.2 (range 1.9-2.6). Prescribing of generic antihypertensives was low with a mean of 33% (range 25-49). The percentages of antibiotics and injections appearing per prescription were 4.8% and 9.8% respectively. The percentages of prescriptions containing both an antidiabetic and a thiazide diuretic were 18.3%, 30.8% and 50.9% for Temeke, Amana and Mwananyamala respectively. The combination of an antidiabetic and propranolol was encountered in 54.8% and 45.2% of prescriptions from Temeke and Mwananyamala respectively. Prescriptions containing a combination of an antidiabetic, a thiazide diuretic and propranolol constituted 43.5%, 39.0% and 17.5% of the total for Temeke, Amana and Mwananyamala respectively. The average patient consultation time was 3.7 minutes whereas the average dispensing time was 45.1 seconds. Overall, 91% of all drugs dispensed were adequately labelled and patients\' knowledge of the correct dose was adequate. All facilities possessed most of the essential antihypertensives and antidiabetics and had adequate reference materials. The drug prescribing pattern for hypertension in the three district hospitals showed that prescribers need to be more conscious of rational prescribing algorithms.

Keywords: Prescribing pattern, antihypertensives, antidiabetics

East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 10 (2) 2007: pp. 34-38