Abstract: Objective To investigate the drug use of newly-diagnosed hypertensive outpatients in secondary and tertiary hospitals in China. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted from March to May 2011in 4departments（cardiology,general internal medicine,hypertension and geriatrics）of 129secondary and tertiary hospitals in29cities of China. Data of 4120hypertensive outpatients were provided by doctors,each of which registered 5consecutive outpatients undergoing treatments. Demographic characters,blood pressures and drug use data were collected from 4117patients,excluding 3cases of logical errors. Results Of the 4117subjects,515were initially diagnosed hypertensive patients and 98.3%received treatment. Of the 515newly-diagnosed hypertensive,109were classified as mild hypertension and 99.1%received treatment. The 4177prescriptions with at least one antihypertensive prescription frequencies are:angiotensin receptor blockers（ARB 71.5%）,calcium channel blockers（CCB,32.6%）,beta-blockers（18.1%）,angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors（ACEI 9.3%）and diuretics（7.8%）.Monotherapy accounted for 62.7% with ARB was most commonly applied,two-drug combination accounted for24.7% with CCB/ARB was the most prescribed and three-drug combinations accounted for 10.9% with beta-blockers/CCB/ARB was most prescribed. Conclusions Compared with the requirement of "2010Chinese guideline for the management of hypertension",there is a phenomenon of irrational drug use in newly-diagnosed hypertensive outpatients who mainly receive monotherapy or dual-combination treatment.