Studies on drug use pattern in the management of diabetes mellitus in rural teaching hospital Chittur, Kerala

Abstract

Drug utilization studies are powerful exploratory tools to ascertain the role of drugs in society. These studies create a sound socio medical and health economic basis for healthcare decision making. WHO specifies drug use indicators for adoption in drug utilization studies in various guidelines are available that recommended for different classes of drugs to treat diabetes. A prospective drug utilization study was conducted in Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in the department of General Medicine and Surgery at Karuna Medical College Hospital (KMCH), Kerala for 6 months - between from November 2017 to April 2018. The patient’s prescriptions which contained at least one anti diabetic agent were selected for further analysis. Using World Health Organization (WHO) drug use indicators. From the study of prescription analysis it was observed that various classes of anti- diabetic agents like Biguanides class 43(41.7%) followed by Sulphonylureas 31(30.09%). The average number of OHAs prescribed per prescription was found to be 2.2. Biguanides (n = 160, 37%) were the most commonly prescribed class, followed by sulphonylureas (n = 138, 31.9%), thiazolidinediones (n = 107, 24.8%) and alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (n = 27, 6.3%). The prescription pattern of diabetic patients in the hospital under study is rational and, to a great extent, complaint with current evidence and clinical guidelines. Insulin and Biguanides were the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetics.