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Patterns of antihypertensive prescribing, discontinuation and switching among a Hong Kong Chinese population from over one million prescriptions

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 714–716 (2008)Cite this article

To evaluate the prescription, discontinuation and switching profiles of antihypertensive agents, we studied computerized records for patients prescribed antihypertensive drugs in government primary care clinics of Hong Kong between January 2004 and June 2007, which include 1 069 836 antihypertensive drug visits (representing 67 028 patients). The most commonly prescribed drugs were calcium channel blockers (CCBs, 49%), β-blockers (BBs, 46%) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs, 19%). Although thiazide diuretic prescribing was low (13%) and on the decline (from 14% in 2004 to 12% in 2007), prescription of ACEIs was rising (from 16% in 2004 to 23% in 2007); drug discontinuation was highest for BBs (21%) and lowest for CCBs (12%) and the high rates of discontinuation in BBs remained apparent after controlling for confounders. CCBs may be particularly favourable antihypertensive drugs in Chinese and the low use of thiazide diuretics warrants further clinical and cost effectiveness studies among Chinese.

The prescribing patterns of antihypertensive agents for Chinese hypertensive patients are not well documented, thus the implications for health policies remained unknown. As persistence with antihypertensive drugs can reduce morbidity and mortality,1 understanding of discontinuation and switching profiles are important in antihypertensive prescription choices. In this study we report the trends of primary care physician prescriptions of the major antihypertensive classes in the public health care sector in Hong Kong, China. We also compared the discontinuation and switching profiles among various antihypertensive drug classes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, Prince of Wales Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    M C S Wong, J Y Jiang, S Griffiths & S W Mercer

  2. Hospital Authority, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China

    A T Lam & H Fung

  3. Division of Community-Based Sciences, General Practice and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    S W Mercer

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  1. M C S Wong
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  2. J Y Jiang
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  3. A T Lam
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  4. H Fung
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  5. S Griffiths
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  6. S W Mercer
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Correspondence to J Y Jiang.

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The abstract of this article has been presented in a local academic conference.

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Human Hypertension website (http://www.nature.com/jhh)

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Wong, M., Jiang, J., Lam, A. et al. Patterns of antihypertensive prescribing, discontinuation and switching among a Hong Kong Chinese population from over one million prescriptions. J Hum Hypertens 22, 714–716 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.83

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