title: Prescription pattern of antidiabetic drugs in the outpatient departments of hospitals in Malappuram district, Kerala.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The study aimed to describe the current trends in the prescription pattern of antidiabetic drugs in outpatient departments and to assess different co-morbid conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a cross-sectional survey of all prescriptions received from 200 outpatients attending different community pharmacies of Malappuram district. Prescriptions were collected by taking their image. Informed verbal consent was obtained from each patient and inquiries were made about their co-morbidities. The contents of the prescriptions were assessed on the basis of drugs used for diabetes and brand names were decoded to generic names using standard CIMS India and the internet.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 200 prescriptions, 95% were for type 2 diabetes mellitus and 5% for type 1 diabetes mellitus. Eighty percent were prescribed with oral hypoglycemic agents alone as mono or in combination therapy, 5% were with insulin alone and 15% with insulin and oral hypoglycemic drug combination. 77% had more than five medicines, in which many were multidrug combinations. No prescription contained generic drugs and 13% contained at least one vitamin supplement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study concluded that the choice of antidiabetic drugs was only slightly changed compared to previous studies, except for newer sulfonyl ureas, thiazolidinediones and improved insulin preparations. Polypharmacy is a big problem, especially for elderly patients. This suggests the need for development of evidence-based guidelines for specific conditions by independent bodies. The study necessitates the need to develop and use a standardized ideal format for all prescriptions. Thereby we can, to an extent, reduce the chance of medication errors.
authors.affiliation: Al Shifa College of Pharmacy, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Machanchery
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shamna
authors.forename: Marimuthu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karthikeyan
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000639:trends*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000639:trends; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents