Key result
Guideline-adherent antihypertensive drugs appear in only ~14% of pediatric prescriptions in China.
Why the study?
Pediatric hypertension is an early marker of cardiovascular diseases, but real-world antihypertensive drug use patterns and epidemiological characteristics in Chinese children were rarely known.
What are the real-world prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications in children with hypertension in China and how well do they adhere to national clinical guidelines?
Cross-Sectional (n=1,301)
Yes
What are the real-world prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications in children with hypertension in China and how well do they adhere to national clinical guidelines?
This multicenter cross-sectional study reveals poor adherence (14.20%) to Chinese pediatric hypertension guidelines regarding specific recommended drug choices, highlighting a critical need for improved evidence-based prescribing and clinical pharmacist oversight in hypertensive children.
Low adherence to specific antihypertensive recommendations in Chinese children signals education gaps; leaves open optimal pediatric regimens in real-world practice.
Background: Pediatric hypertension become an early marker of cardiovascular diseases, but their antihypertensive drug use patterns are rarely known. Purpose: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of pediatric hypertension and the use of antihypertensive drugs in the real world in China. Methods: In this study, the demographic, diagnosis, and medication prescription data including the antihypertensive drug types and comorbidities, were analyzed. The antihypertensive drugs use were evaluated according to the Chinese guidelines for hypertension. Results: 1301 prescriptions (number of visits) containing 1880 antihypertensive medical orders were collected. The average number of antihypertensive drugs per prescription was 1.45 (±0.75). The patients aged 16 to 18 (70.18%) accounted for the highest proportion. Kidney diseases (33.28%) were the most common comorbidities. Calcium channel blocker (CCB), angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), and β receptor blocker (BB) were the most used antihypertensive drugs. The most frequent monotherapy was CCB, while that of two and three drugs combination were ARB+CCB and ARB+BB+CCB, respectively. Metoprolol (11.44%), nifedipine (10.64%), amlodipine (10.59%), valsartan (6.12%) were the most commonly used antihypertensive drugs. The utilization rate of fixed compound preparations was 7.34%. However, the percentage of recommended antihypertensive drugs was just 14.20%, while the recommended drug combination was 84.93% according to the guidelines. Conclusion: For the first time ever we reported the antihypertensive prescription analysis in children in a large area of China. Our data provided new insights into the epidemiological characteristics and drug use in hypertensive children. We found that the guidelines for medication management in hypertensive children were not routinely followed. The wide use of antihypertensive drugs in children and those with weak clinical evidence raised concerns regarding its rational use. The findings could lead to more effective management of hypertension in children.
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Qin et al. (2023) conducted a cross-sectional in Pediatric hypertension (n=1,301). Antihypertensive drug prescriptions (CCB, ARB, BB, ACEI, diuretics, alpha-blockers, fixed-dose combinations) vs. 2018 Chinese Guidelines for Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension recommendations was evaluated on Percentage of recommended antihypertensive drugs used according to the 2018 Chinese Guidelines. Antihypertensive prescriptions in Chinese children adhered to specific guideline-recommended drugs in only 14.20% of medical orders, though 84.93% of combination regimens followed guidelines.
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