Antihypertensive medication utilization and adverse drug reactions in the elderly: study design and baseline characteristics

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) may result in significant burden to both individual patients and health systems. A number of risk factors have been identified for ADRs, and the elderly have long been recognised as a high‐risk group for medication misadventure, including ADRs. Previous studies have explored the role of high‐risk medications such as digoxin and warfarin in ADRs however little work has been done on the contribution of antihypertensive medications to ADRs in the elderly. Hypertension is one of the most common cardiovascular conditions and antihypertensive medications are considered among the most commonly prescribed medications in the elderly. A cross sectional observational study of patients aged 65 years and over, admitted to a major metropolitan teaching hospital during 2010 was conducted to explore the role of antihypertensive medication in adverse drug reactions. This paper presents the study design and baseline characteristics of the study population. The study population comprised 503 patients. The mean age was 80.3 years and 59% of the study population were female. Over two thirds of patients (69.1%) had a documented diagnosis of hypertension in their medical record and 67.3% were using antihypertensive medications on admission to hospital.