Authors : Raushan Kumar Ranjan, Raushan Kumar Ranjan, Rajesh Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Manish Kumar, Manish Kumar, Lalit Mohan, Lalit Mohan, Saajid Hameed, Saajid Hameed
DOI : 10.18231/j.pjms.2020.030
Volume : 10
Issue : 2
Year : 2020
Page No : 139-144
Objective: There is increasing trend among psychiatrists to use newer psychotropic medications in their
practice. Assessing the pattern of prescription and setting standards according to it should become part
of clinical practice. Keeping this in mind, present study was planned to highlight the utilization pattern,
comparing it with other studies and assess safety outcomes.
Materials and Methods: This was an observational and prospective study. One hundred forty-three
(n=143) prescriptions were analysed and were followed up for 12 months. Patient on psychotropic drugs
were screened for suspected Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) and were reported to AMC (Adverse Drug
Reaction Monitoring Centre), Department of Pharmacology.
Result: Total 514 drugs were prescribed in 143 prescriptions. Total number of antipsychotic drugs
prescribed was 375. The average number of antipsychotic drugs per prescription was 2.62. Among
Antipsychotics atypical antipsychotics (64.52%) were prescribed more than typical antipsychotics
(39.02%). Most commonly reported ADR was weight gain (28.38%) followed by sedation (14.19%),
tremor (12.16%) and akathisia (10.81%). 6.08% of ADRs were Gastrointestinal side effects. Weight gain
was found exclusively in atypical antipsychotics while tremor and akathisia were found mostly in typical
ones.
Conclusion: Polypharmacy was avoided in prescriptions. Atypical antipsychotics were prescribed more
than typical ones with olanzapine having highest percent drug utilisation. But this trend is increasing
burden of obesity and metabolic syndrome in old age populations. The study results strongly suggest the
need for healthcare team to focus on assessing and reporting suspected ADRs for enhancing the quality of
monitoring and managing ADRs.
Keywords: Antipsychotic drugs, Adverse drug reactions (ADRs), Prescribed daily dose (PDD), Defined daily dose (DDD), Prescription.