Pattern of antimicrobials use in chronic leg ulcers at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Background: Chronic leg ulcers are common among elderly population with major risk factors being diabetes, smoking etc., and their sequelae are the most common cause of disability and hospital admission with a significant impact on the quality of life. This study was taken up to evaluate usage of Antimicrobial agents (AMA) in chronic leg ulcers using WHO prescribing indicators. Methods: A prospective, observational study, in which 101 prescriptions with antibiotics, prescribed for cases of chronic leg ulcer, were collected from the Department of Surgery, analysed and assessed using WHO prescribing indicators. Results: One hundred and one prescriptions collected over a period of 6 weeks, were analysed using WHO prescribing indicators. Total number of drugs prescribed was 721. Average number of drugs per prescription was 7. 36% of the drugs were prescribed by their generic name and only 35% of the total drugs were from EML (2011). Prescriptions of AMA accounted for 34.4%; most common being Beta lactam (25.6%) followed by Linezolid (20.8%), Metronidazole (17.7%), Fluoroquinolones (7.6%) and combination antibiotics (28%). All patients received one or more injections. The average duration of AMA therapy was 5 days. Conclusions: Majority of the AMAs used in the treatment of chronic leg ulcers were injection. However prescriptions from Essential Medicine List and by generic name were less frequent.