Abstract
Background
Fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) are being widely prescribed for the treatment of various disorders in India. However, not all FDCs are rational. To know the awareness of physicians in prescribing rational FDCs was the need of the hour in order to assess the prescribing trends and rationality of FDCs. Eventually, this will help to formulate the guideline for rational use of FDCs.
Methods
This was a prospective observational study conducted in All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal, MP, India. Prescriptions were collected over a period of 2 months by the convenience sampling method from hospital pharmacy. The data were subjected to descriptive analysis using Microsoft Excel and Graph Pad Prism. Results were expressed in mean ± standard deviation (SD), percentages and 95% confidence interval.
Results
A total of 2496 drugs were prescribed in 1008 prescriptions, of which 945 (37.82%) were FDCs with an average of 0.93 ± 0.94 (mean ± SD) per prescription. Of 945, 67 (7.09%) were included in National List of Essential Medicine 2015 considered as rational. The number of prescriptions containing one or more FDCs was 629 (62.40%). FDCs were more frequently prescribed to male patients (54.92%) and in the age group of 18–30 years (33.44%). FDCs containing a proton pump inhibitor were prescribed most frequently (16.29%) followed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (13.96%) and multivitamins (7.83%).
Conclusions
Prescribing irrational FDCs was very common, and hence there is an obvious need to update our prescribers about the irrationality of FDC and motivate them to develop a habit of rational prescribing.
Acknowledgments
We are thankful to our medical superintendent Dr K. C. Tamariya for allowing us to perform our study. We also extend our thanks to In-House Pharmacy for helping our researchers in collecting required data.
Research funding: None declared.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: For this type of study formal consent is not required.
Ethical approval: This study protocol was approved by Institutional Human Ethics Committee, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Approval No. IHEC LOP/2016/IM0091.
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