title: Drug prescribing in children in a North Indian referral hospital.
abstract: Ojective- Pattern of drug use in an ambulatory paediatric patients in a tertiary care hospital in Northern India was studied.Methods- Prescribing patterns were studied prospectively, using drug use indicators developed by WHO/International Network for Rational Utilization of Drugs (INRUD).Results- The most frequent diagnosis was seizure disorder (26.9%) and antiepileptics were the most often prescribed drugs (24.6); followed by vitamin and mineral supplements (20.1%), and cough/cold preparations (16%). Use of vitamin and mineral supplements was disproportionately high (20.1%) when compared to the number of cases of anaemia (2.3% and malnutrition (2.6%). The average number of drugs per encounter (1.32), percentage of encounters with an antibiotic (6.1%) or injection (0.2%) prescribed, were all within the acceptable range. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was too low, at 11.2%.Conclusion- Barring the frequent use of supplements and low rate of generic prescribing, prescribing trends were found to be rational in other aspects in the study population. Copyright (c) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, (PGIMER), Chandigarh-160012, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jhaj
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Bhargava
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uppal
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reeta
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kumar