The effect of pH, media, phosphate concentration and ionic strength on the kinetics of thermal degradation of betamethasone valerate and betamethasone dipropionate has been investigated. A validated HPLC method has been used to determine the parent compounds and their major thermal degradation products identified in the reaction. Betamethasone-17-valerate gave rise to two major products, namely, betamethasone-21-valerate and betamethasone alcohol, and betamethasone dipropionate degraded into three major products, namely, betamethasone-17-propionate, betamethasone-21-propionate and betamethasone alcohol, in different media. Betamethasone valerate showed maximum stability at pH 4-5 while betamethasone dipropionate was maximally stable at pH 3.5-4.5. The degradation of betamethasone valerate and betamethasone dipropionate was found to follow first-order kinetics and the apparent first-order rate constants (kobs) for thermal degradation in different media range from 0.399-9.07×10-3 h-1 and 0.239-1.87×10-3 h-1, respectively. The values of the rate constants decrease with increasing solvent polarity, phosphate concentration and ionic strength. The second-order rate constants (k΄) for the phosphate ion inhibited reactions lie in the range of 3.02-1.30×10-6 M-1 s-1.

Health related quality of life (HRQoL) is used to measure both the present health status and the impact of health care interventions on the patients. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the improvement in health related quality of life of the hypertensive patients after pharmaceutical care provided by pharmacist in Pakistan. A repeated measure prospective intervention study was conducted at Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 286 hypertensive patients were enrolled at baseline, out which 116 patients kept enrolled till the end of the study. After taking the demographic data at baseline, the health related quality of life was measured by using the Urdu version of generic EQ-5D instrument of Euroqol Group at baselines and follow up visits after 2 months, 4 months and 6 months. All the data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 16. Paired t test and Pearson's correlation coefficient were performed to compare EQ-5D values and association between baselines and follow up visits. The EQ-5D Index score and EQ-5D VAS score were 0.8789 ± 0.17993 and 65.56 ± 16.67 at baseline which were raised to 0.9276 ± 0.1392 and 78.00 ± 12.649 respectively after 6 months. The study showed that health related quality of life of these hypertensive patients were significantly improved after pharmaceutical care interventions.