“DRUG UTILIZATION STUDY IN PATIENTS VISITING GYNAECOLOGY OPD AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL”

Abstract

Gynaecological diseases are common in India because of socio-economic conditions, hygiene literacy problems. Women health is one of most neglected issues in developing countries like India. With the increasing awareness, the ow of patients visiting gynaecology outpatient department (OPD) has increased. Gynaecological drugs are one of the strong selling drugs in pharmaceutical market. Drug utilization research facilitate appropriate use of drugs in patient, minimize the adverse event and lead to better patient outcome. This study revisits the utilization patterns of drugs used in the gynaecology OPD. A prospective, observational and cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Pharmacology in collaboration with Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of tertiary healthcare hospital. Total 360 prescriptions were analysed, most of them belonged to the age group of 31-50 years. The Average number of drugs per prescription is 3.2. 38.33% were found to be infective while 61.66% were non-infective. Total 1876 drugs were prescribed. Among all drugs, Hematopoietic agents were most commonly prescribed (46.69%) followed by antimicrobials (29.16%). 98.40% drugs were prescribed by generic name and by 1.60% brand name. 91.95% drugs prescribed were included in WHO essential drugs list 2021. 96.69% drugs prescribed were included in National list of essential medicines (NLEM) 2015. In this study it was observed that majority of patients visiting the OPD were from urban areas, as the women from rural areas depend on peripheral health services, so it is crucial to strengthen the peripheral health services, to reduce the mortality and morbidity amongst the population.