Authors : Pradeep Javedar, Shrinivas R Raikar, Prashant Dass
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijpp.2019.015
Volume : 6
Issue : 2
Year : 2019
Page No : 65-72
Introduction: Mental disorders form an important public health priority. Less work has been carried out in India on the economic burden of mental illness. Policy makers are increasingly dependent on clinical data to formulate and implement guidelines on Psychotropic drug use. This study aims to further the database of knowledge regarding Psychotropic drugs and their utilisation in mental health disorders in this region.
Materials and Methods: After institutional ethics committee approval, a prospective drug utilisation study of 100 out patient prescriptions was undertaken. Preparation of the protocol and conduct of the study was as per the WHO – DUS and the STROBE guidelines.
Results: 100 prescriptions were analysed containing 207 drugs, 174 of these were psychotropic drugs. Utilisation from National Medicines List and WHO Essential Medicines List was 54.54% and 45.45% respectively. Average psychotropic drugs per prescription were 1.74±0.066 (SD). 30% prescriptions contained fixed dose combinations. Only 0.48% drugs were prescribed by generic name. Drug utilisation pattern: Commonly prescribed drugs were Haloperidol, Valproate, Dosulepin, and Clonazepam. The PDD/DDD ratio of three drugs – Risperidone, Lorazepam and Amisulpride – was equal to one. The average cost borne by the patient was 385.2 rupees per month.
Conclusion: Overall the principles of rational prescribing were followed. Hospital schedule needs to add more SSRIs. Practice of using typical anti–psychotics as first line was as per recommendations. More drugs need to be prescribed by generic name to reduce the economic burden. Use of drugs from essential medicine lists needs to be increased in order to have more rational prescribing.
Keywords: Drug utilization, Defined daily dose, Prescribed daily dose, Prescription pattern, Psychotropic drugs.