Prescribing pattern of iron preparations in antenatal women in a tertiary care hospital.

ABSTRACT

Iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women is a major health problem in India. According to WHO, anemia in pregnant women is described as Hb% < 11g/dl or hematocrit < 33% and all pregnant women are to be given a standard dose of 60mg and 120mg elemental iron for prophylaxis and treatment of anemia respectively. As per ICMR guidelines, the dosage has increased from 60 to 100mg for treatment of anemia. This study was done to study the prescribing pattern of iron preparations in antenatal women and to compare the elemental iron content in the drug. Fifty pregnant women were included in the study. Prescription analysis showed that 94% were given oral iron preparations and 6% were given I.V. injections. The commonly prescribed drugs were Ferrous Ascorbate(42%) and Sodium Feredetate(40%) containing elemental iron 100mg and 33mg respectively. The I.V. preparation used was mainly iron sucrose (6%). Since both the oral iron preparations were prescribed once daily, Ferrous Ascorbate should be preferred over Sodium Feredetate since the total elemental iron in Sodium Feredetate is not sufficient as per WHO and ICMR guidelines.