title: Bibliographic search of publication patterns in rational use of drugs in Iran: a systematic approach.
abstract: Inappropriate use of drugs is a widespread problem with serious consequences such as increased adverse drug reaction and antimicrobial resistance. Proper interventions would have important financial and public health benefits. Several studies have been performed about Rational Drug Use (RUD) in Iran. To provide a picture of researches were done about RUD and highlight the existing gaps in practice in Iran, a systematic search was conducted by reviewing all papers (English and Persian) found by searching keywords in Pubmed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Proquest, International Pharmaceutical Abstract (IPA), SID, Iran Medex and MagIran. Retrieved articles were extracted in Access form and exported to Excel for further analysis. After excluding duplicate and irrelevant articles, 466 related articles were remained. Number of publications increased dramatically after 2001. About 73% of studies were cross-sectional. Evaluation of prescribing pattern (15%), self-medication (11.3%) and adverse drug reaction (9.1%) were among the top topics which were studied. Despite an increasing trend in RUD publications in Iran, still large gaps remain to be investigated. Knowing the existing gaps is crucial for policy makers to make investments to solve the problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy and pharmacy practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ava
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mansouri
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jahangard-Rafsanjani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarayani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. & Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Molouk
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hadjibabaie
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. & Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Kheirollah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gholami
mesh_terms: D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D004358:Drug Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D011643:Publishing