News - Hypertension Week of Jan. 12, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 02

Study Increases Use of Diuretics to Treat High Blood Pressure

Physicians are prescribing more diuretics to treat high blood pressure because of a well-publicized study last month that showed these cheaper drugs to be as effective as their more expensive anti-hypertensive counterparts.

According to MarketRx, the New Jersey marketing company that conducted the survey, physicians expect to decrease their use of ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers and to increase their prescriptions of combination therapies, which include diuretics.

MarketRx said this sentiment is consistent for all three specialty groups that participated in the survey, including cardiology, internal medicine and family practice physicians. The study affecting the prescribing habits of physicians is known as ALLHAT. It showed that low-cost thiazide diuretics are generally as effective in improving patients' health as more expensive prescription drugs.

The survey also found that even while continuing to use ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers, physicians expect to increasingly shift from branded agents to generics in 2003.

Jassi Chadha, president and CEO of MarketRx, said 80% of physicians interviewed were aware of the ALLHAT results. "We expect that, once all physicians have fully discussed and digested the results of the new ALLHAT study, we may see significant shifts in prescribing patterns," she noted.

Other sources: MarketRx