title: Indian Psychiatric Society multicentric study: Prescription patterns of psychotropics in India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a lack of national level data from India on prescription of psychotropics by psychiatrists.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to assess the first prescription handed over to the psychiatrically ill patients whenever they contact a psychiatrist.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected across 11 centers. Psychiatric diagnosis was made as per the International Classification of Diseases Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders 10(th) edition criteria based on Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and the data of psychotropic prescriptions was collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Study included 4480 patients, slightly more than half of the subjects were of male (54.8%) and most of the participants were married (71.8%). Half of the participants were from the urban background, and about half (46.9%) were educated up to or beyond high school. The most common diagnostic category was that of affective disorders (54.3%), followed by Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (22.2%) and psychotic disorders (19.1%). Other diagnostic categories formed a very small proportion of the study participants. Among the antidepressants, most commonly prescribed antidepressant included escitalopram followed by sertraline. Escitalopram was the most common antidepressant across 7 out of 11 centers and second most common in three centers. Among the antipsychotics, the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic was olanzapine followed by risperidone. Olanzapine was the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic across 6 out of 11 centers and second most common antipsychotic across rest of the centers. Among the mood stabilizers valproate was prescribed more often, and it was the most commonly prescribed mood stabilizer in 8 out of 11 centers. Clonazepam was prescribed as anxiolytic about 5 times more commonly than lorazepam. Clonazepam was the most common benzodiazepine prescribed in 6 out of the 11 centers. Rate of polypharmacy was low.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Escitalopram is the most commonly prescribed antidepressant, olanzapine is the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic and clonazepam is most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine. There are very few variations in prescription patterns across various centers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avasthi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, S N Medical College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, B J Medical College and Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Bhavesh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lakdawala
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, MM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bathla
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, PGIMS, Rohtak, India.
authors.forename: Sujata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gitanjali Medical College Hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.affiliation: Consultant Psychiatrist, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Puneet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kathuria
authors.affiliation: SBKS MI & RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Pipaira, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Sandip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: D Sai
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Baalasubramanian
authors.affiliation: KGMU, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Guwahati Medical College, Guwahati, Assam, India.
authors.forename: Kamla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deka
keywords: Antidepressants; antipsychotics; benzodiazepines; mood stabilizers; prescription patterns