Trends of prescribing for out-door geriatric patients in a private hospital of Bangladesh.
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Date
2011-12
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Abstract
The present study was performed to find out the prescribing patterns of the doctors for
geriatric patients, to characterize the behavior of the outdoor geriatric patients of a selected
private hospital and to investigate whether polypharmacy is a suitable indicator for occurrence of
unnecessary or irrational drug therapy. A prospective study was carried out with the help of a
structured questionnaire and the prescriptions of the patients. Patients aged 65 year and above
were included in the study. A total of 35 patients were interviewed and their prescriptions were
collected after taking their consent. Among the patients, hypertension was found to be most
prevalent (46%) followed by diabetes mellitus (16%). Chief complaints were chest pain (41%),
joint pain (37%), muscle pain (34%) and respiratory distress (27%). About 34% of the patients
did not comply with the prescription and 75% did not take regular physical exercise. Stress
(49%) and insomnia (41%) were common among the patients. Polypharmacy was observed in
69% of the patients and an average of 5.5 drugs was given to them. Losartan potassium was the
mostly prescribed (31%) drugs followed by esomeprazole (20%) and multivitamins (17%).
Unnecessary drug use problem can be prevented by the rational prescribing of drugs by the
practitioners. Any medications without therapeutic benefit, goal or indication should be avoided
during prescribing for geriatric patients. This study reveals the prescription trends, and indicates
possible areas of improvement in prescribing practice.
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Keywords
Prescribing patterns, geriatric patients, Polypharmacy, rational prescribing, therapeutic benefit
Citation
Asaduzzaman Muhammad, Nasrin Nishat, Rizwan Farhana, Monjur Forhad, Mowla Rumana. Trends of prescribing for out-door geriatric patients in a private hospital of Bangladesh. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. 2011 Dec; 1(10): 123-125.