Assessment of adverse drug reactions of angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (arbs) among sudanese patients

Introduction: Both angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) are widely used in the treatment of hypertension, left ventricular dysfunction and diabetic nephropathy. Adverse effects of angiotensin II inhibitors include dry cough, dizziness, deterioration in renal function, hypotension and Angioedema.
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADR) of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers among Sudanese patients.
Methodology: this was cross sectional study conducted in different hospitals and healthcare centers in Khartoum state, Sudan. A total of 120 patients were enrolled in this study. The data was collected using questionnaire.
Results: This study revealed that most of the patients (37.5 %) are using these drugs for less than one year, while 35 % of the patients used these drugs for 2 – 5 years and lisinopril was the most drug prescribed (78.3%) for the patients. About 75 % of the females did not receive advice regarding the use of these drugs during pregnancy. This study also showed that 46.7 % of patients developed first - dose hypotension and 36.7% of the patients suffered from dry cough.
Conclusion: Since 90.8% of the patients were not aware about the adverse drug reactions of their medications it is recommended to increase the awareness of the patients about the side effects of ACE inhibitors and ARBs.