Prescribing Pattern of Drugs Used For Respiratory Disease in Pediatric Patients at Private Hospital

Aim: The prescribing pattern of drugs used for the treatment of respiratory disease in pediatric patients at private
hospital was studied. Methods: The observational study was conducted in the pediatric clinic, during which prescriptions were analyzed. Results: A total of 74 patient’s prescriptions were analyzed. Average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 4.20. In that 43 (58.1%) patients were male and 31 (41.9%) patients were female. The study showed that (37.2%) of patients among children were prescribed with syrup, 27.1% with drops, 15.5% with nebulizer, 10.1% with tablet, 9.3% with inhaler and 0.8% with injection of anti-respiratory drugs. The drugs
accounted for over 22%, 14.7% and 14% of prescriptions, included antibiotics, anti-histamines and β2 agonists
respectively. It has been seen that 10.8% were received two drug therapy, 25.7% were received three drug
therapy, 32.4% were received four drug therapy, 25.7% were received five drug therapy, and 5.4% were received
six drug therapy. Major anti-asthmatic drugs prescribed were Salbutamol (33.61%), Montelukast (29.3%), Prednisolone (17.6%), Inhaled corticosteroids (15.1%) and Deflazacort (4.20%). Conclusion: Thus it can be concluded that the present prescribing pattern of anti-asthmatics does not meet the standard guidelines for asthma treatment. Hence there is a need of awareness amongst the Physicians. Also the patients must be encouraged to complete whole treatment for improving the health. It has been also concluded
that a study may be more meaningful to further improve the dispensing practices of the pharmacist.