Publication:

A study of morbidity pattern and drug usage in pediatric inpatients in tertiary teaching care hospital

Background Children constitute 40% of India’s population. They suffer from frequent but usually non serious illnesses. Most of these are self-limiting and often treated not only inappropriately but also resorting to poly-pharmacy. The study of prescribing pattern is a part of the medical audit and seeks to monitor, evaluate and if necessary, suggest modification in prescribing practices to make medical care rational and cost effective. Appropriate drug utilization it terms of efficacy, safety, convenience and economic aspects at all levels in the chain of drug use. The assessment of medicine utilization is important for clinical, educational and economic purpose.

Methods The prospective, observational and cross sectional study conducted for duration of 12 months from 1st October 2014 to 30th September 2015 on 610 paediatric in-patients after approval from Institutional Ethics Committee.

Results Most common age group affected was 1-5 year. Majority of patients were male child. Average number of drugs per encounter was 5.17±2.41. 71% drugs were prescribed by generic name. 57% drugs are prescribed from EML. Majority of the drugs were given via oral route. Average number of duration of hospitalization was 5.85±4. Majority of patients had respiratory diseases and pneumonia was most common diseases in present study. Most commonly prescribed drugs were AMA were beta-lactam followed by aminoglycosides. Among prescribed FDCs, Co-amoxiclav combination was frequently used.

Conclusions Despite some limitations such as single centre study as well as relatively small sample size, the data generated from the present study can be used to plan multi-centric studies in the future.