Great Sustainability Results From Appropriate Antihypertensive Therapy

Cardiovascular diseases are emerging as a major cause of death and hospitalization in the West-ern world. For many years, a number of medicines have been placed on the market, in well-established and safe use for antihypertensive therapy. The various classes of antihypertensives in established use include, ACE inhibitors, as monotherapy or in combination with diuretics or calcium antagonists, sartans, calcium antagonists, beta blockers, and diuretics. Among these medicines classes there are differences in mechanism of action, efficacy in reducing blood pression, tolerabil-ity, and cost. In fact, there are wide differences in the monthly cost of therapy within each class and among the classes themselves. In this analysis we describe an example about the prescribing trends of antihyperten-sive drugs at a European sample represented by an Italian health care company of about 1 million inhabi-tants. Aspects of pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoutili-zation, and pharmacological differences are described.

Automated summary

Cardiovascular diseases are becoming a leading cause of death and hospitalization in the Western world. Various classes of antihypertensive drugs, such as ACE inhibitors, sartans, calcium antagonists, beta blockers, and diuretics, differ in mechanism, efficacy, tolerability, and cost. This analysis examines the prescribing trends of antihypertensive drugs in an Italian healthcare company, highlighting aspects of pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoutili-zation, and pharmacological differences.