Assistant Professor Department of Pharmacy Practice, KLE College of Pharmacy, Hubballi. HUBBALLI KARNATAKAINDIA, India
Background: Antibiotics are choice of drugs in patients with respiratory infections. Irrational use of antibiotics is an important public health issue faced on daily basis by the community and the individual. Keeping this in consideration, the current study investigates the prescription pattern of antibiotics in lower respiratory tract infection in general population.
Objectives: 1. To evaluate the prescription pattern analysis of antibiotics for LRTIs in general population 2. To evaluate medication adherence to antibiotic treatment.
Methods: Study
Design: Observational study carried out for a period of 6 months from November 2021 to April 2022. Study Population: The study was conducted in inpatients from General Department in Vivekananda General Hospital, Deshpande Nagar, Hubballi. Study Sample: A total of 200 inpatient case records of general population with LRTI were analyzed. Inclusion Criteria: Patients with Lower respiratory tract infection, Patients admitted to In-patient general medicine department, Patients of all age group, both the genders, Patients with co morbidities. Exclusion Criteria: Obstetrics and gynecology patients, Patients with COVID-19, Patients who are not willing to participate in study. Data Analysis: The demographic information, diagnosis, hospitalization, drug type, dosage regimen (form, route, frequency, and duration), average number of drugs per encounter, ratio of encounters with an antibiotic prescription, and group-wise antibiotic prescription were all examined in the inpatient case records. Descriptive analysis was performed. Results were analyzed using MS Excel 2019 and SPSS 25.0. Chi- square and Pearson’s correlation tests was carried out to determine the significance and associations among variables.
Results: A total of 200 patients were involved in the study, out of which 53% were males and 47% were females. A total of 2127 drugs were prescribed in 200 patients (10.6 drugs/prescription). Ceftriaxone was the most commonly used antibiotic followed by azithromycin and piperacillin/tazobactam. The most frequently diagnosed disease was Bronchopneumonia (41%) followed by A/E COPD (28%). Evaluation of medication adherence resulted in 58% high and 11% poor adherence. The number of antibiotics prescribed was found to be rational but prevalence of polypharmacy should be prevented. Medication adherence decreases as the frequency of antibiotic increases.
Conclusions: There is a need for conducting educational and training programs among prescribers in order to bring rational use of antibiotics. The adherence scores were significantly worse with thrice daily antibiotic regimen and better with once daily regimen. So it is recommended to lower the frequency of drugs as possible to enhance the compliance.
