Drug Utilization and Prescription Monitoring of Asthma Patients

The present study was conducted to establish prescription trends of anti-asthmatic drugs at the Central Referral Hospital, Tadong and Gangtok, Sikkim. The study was conducted using WHO-based prescriptionauditing performa. Data were recorded from the patients attending the hospital outpatient department (OPD) through a chance, random sampling method. Methylxanthine (40%) was the most frequently prescribed drug among anti-asthmatics, followed by β2-agonists (27%), corticosteroids (23%), and mucolytics (09%). which were the least prescribed. Our study further found that combination therapy (80%) was given to a signiÞ cant number of patients as compared to monotherapy (20%). In combination therapy, the two-drug combination was the most often prescribed (57.69%). Further, anti-asthmatic drugs were mostly given (68.18%) by the oral route, followed by the inhalation route (27.27%) and injection route (4.55%). The asthmatic problem was more prevalent in grade III employees that includes drivers and laborers. It has been concluded that a study may be more meaningful to further improve the prescribing as well as dispensing practices of the pharmacist through successful implementation of interventional programs in health centers.

Key words: Asthma, drug utilization study, prescription monitoring