ABSTRACT
In Egypt, the determinants and rationale for drug use among infants have not been previously studied. We give an overview of the use of prescribed and non-prescribed medication over a 1-month period in infants in Alexandria, Egypt. In 89.6% of cases mothers stated that their infants had suffered some ailments which necessitated intervention; 27.5% used traditional therapies or non-prescribed medication and 72.5% sought medical advice. The non-prescribed medicines used were mainly antispasmodics and antipyretics. This study provides the first overview of the frequency of use of non-prescribed medication in infants and detected some indicators of irrational drug prescribing by physicians
Subject(s)
Humans , Infant , Ambulatory Care/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , Drug Utilization , Infant, Newborn , Mothers , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data , Drug Prescriptions/statistics & numerical data , Surveys and Questionnaires , Urban Health/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
A cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient clinics of all specialized children's hospitals in Alexandria. The aim was to describe the health care delivered to children suffering from asthma and how far it complied with recent therapeutic guidelines. The pattern of asthma management was characterized by a significant underuse of prophylactic drugs in moderate/severe chronic asthma, underuse of the inhalation mode of delivery, and corticosteroids abuse as a prophylactic in between acute exacerbations in mild asthma. Also, assessment of pulmonary function [peak-flow rate] was rarely performed