ABSTRACT
Background: Periodic auditing of prescriptions in terms of drug utilization study is an important tool to enhance the efficacy of the treatment, to decrease the risk of the adverse effects, to give cost-effective treatment and to provide useful feedback to the clinician. Prevalence of dermatological diseases is very high throughout the world, and in day to day practice, a quarter of the cases are related with dermatological manifestations. In studies conducted in the Out Pa-tient Department (OPD) of dermatology in North Palestine and Western Nepal, irrationalities in the prescriptions have been reported. Aim: To study the drug utilization pattern for skin diseases in dermatology OPD at tertiary care hospi-tal of Western Maharashtra. Methodology: The retrospective analysis of dermatology OPD records of 6 months (1stMarch 2018-31stAugust 2018) was carried out during the study period (1stSeptember 2018 to 30thNovember 2018). The proforma for collecting data was designed. Demographic details, diagnosis and treatment given for each patient were recorded. The data collected was condensed, and the master chart was prepared for data analysis. Result: During the study period, a total of 3869 patient’s case records were studied and analysed. A maximum number of patients (26.5%) found in the age group 31-40 years, followed by 23.5% of patients in the age group 21-30 years. Fungal in-fection was found in 39.6 % of patients followed by acne in 14.2% patients and eczema in 9.1% of patients. Drugs most commonly prescribed were antihistaminics (45.02%) followed by antifungal (39.6%) and steroids (27.8%). Levocetirizine (74.07%) and hydroxyzine (16.5%) were the most commonly prescribed antihistaminics. Itraconazole (58.17%) and Griseofulvin (24.67%) were the most commonly used oral antifungal drugs. Miconazole (73.73%) was the most commonly used topical antifungal drug, followed by ketoconazole (12.45%). Among steroids, prednisone (52%) and betamethasone (38.05%) were the most commonly used steroids by oral route while clobetasol (68.09%) and mometasone (19.5%) were the most commonly used steroids by topical route. Our study revealed that the per-centage of drugs prescribed from the WHO essential drug list was only 23.87%. Drugs which prescribed by the gener-ic names were less than <1%. Conclusion:Treatment protocols used in the management of skin disorders were near to the standard guidelines.