RESUMEN
Drug acting on the central nevrous system [CNS] are widely used in the world as well as Iran due to social, economic and cultural factors. Thus because of the importance and wide prescription of drugs , prescription patterns of five groups of drugs including sedatives , hypnotics, antidepressants , antiepileptics, antipsychotics and antiparkinsonism were evaluated in Tabriz. 1461 prescriptions were collected from 24 randomized - selected pharmacies and analyzed. The results indicated that: 1]-On an average 3.65+/-0.3 types of drugs were included in each prescription which was 1.8 times more compared to International standards. 2-Out of 1461 prescriptions, 288[19.71] contained at least one drug affecting the CNS. 3- 41.41% of the total prescriptions were prescribed by general physicians, out of which 18.34% contained at least one drug affecting the CNS. 4- Drugs acting on the CNS were prescribed in 94.87%, 58.18% and 36.66% of cases by Psychiatrists, Neurologists and Rehabilitists, respectively. 5- Women received these druge more compared to men so that 62.5% and 35.77% of these prescriptions were advised for women and men respectively [p<0.01]. Average mean ages of women and men receving these drugs were 41.76+- 4.2, 26.29+/-4.7 respectively and for children under 12 years 4.66+/-0.5. 6- Sedatives, hypnotic agents were the most common prescribed drugs both for women and men. However, these agents were prescribed for women more than men [p<0.05]. In contrast, Antiepileptic drugs were prescribed for men more than women [p<0.01]. 7- 58.68% and 26.04% of the prescriptions contained one or two of these agents, respectively and the rest contained 3-6 of them. Considering of these results, we conclude that the correct prescription of these agents, therapeutic monitoring of them, prescription by specialists and limitation of poly pharmacy may increase efficacy and safety of them