A descriptive study of the influence of age and gender on drug utilization in acute myocardial infarction

Introduction: Despite the presence of effective guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction, there is underuse of thrombolytics, antiplatelet drugs, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta blockers and hypolipidaemics. Gender and age based differences have been reported. Our aim was to determine the percentage of patients who were receiving these drugs during hospital admission and discharge. Method: A case record study of 349 patients who were admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction during the year 2004-2006, was done. The age, gender, drugs prescribed during the three days following admission and on discharge, comorbidities, outcome and duration of stay, was noted for each patient. Results: Of the 349 patients, 81% were males and 19% were females. The average ages of presentation were 57.98 years in men and 65.02 years in women. The percentages of patients who received antiplatelet agents, thrombolytics, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, hypolipidaemics and anticoagulants on hospital admission were 95, 42, 43, 46, 79, 85%,respectively. The prescription rate of antiplatelet agents, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, hypolipidaemics on discharge was 98, 66, 68, 92% respectively. Conclusions: Our study showed that the initiation of treatment in both the gender and age groups varied. However, the use of drugs among the various groups was almost equal on discharge, except for hypolipidaemics. A majority of the females and elderly patients received all the drugs on hospital discharge, reflecting a lack of gender or age disparity. Although the use of thrombolytics, beta blockers and ACE inhibitors was low on admission, proper use after adjusting for confounding factors might be higher.