Prescribing Pattern & Cost-Identification Analysis of Antimicrobial Use in Respiratory Tract Infections.

ABSTRACT

The objective of an observational study was to evaluate the drug prescribing pattern in the pediatric population in a tertiary care teaching hospital. The most common illness, which warranted admission to PICU, was bronchopneumonia (33.3%) followed by bronchiolitis (17.5%) and bronchial asthma (7.9%). Average no. of Antimicrobial Agents received per patient was 3.9. Parenteral drugs accounted for 86.1% of the total drugs prescribed. The most common AMAs prescribed were cephalosporins (26.1%), aminoglycosides (20.9%), beta-lactams (excluding cephalosporins) (17.4%) and fluoroquinolones (11.1%). Beta-lactams contributed to 44% of the total AMA cost followed by cephalosporins (31.8%) and miscellaneous AMAs (8.5%). The total number of preparation encounter per prescription was 9.7±4.8 per patient. The total number of single drug prescription was 88.4% and fixed drug combinations were 11.6%. Among the total drugs prescribed, 45.26% were generic and 54.73% constituted branded drugs. Overall 51% of the total drugs prescribed were from the WHO List of Essential Medicine 2010. There should be more emphasis on prescribing generic drugs and in case of similar efficacy the drug with lesser cost should be preferred.