Abstract
Purpose: To assess the prescribing patterns of asthma medications in a hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with regard to the demographic pattern of the population.Methods: One hundred fifty four patients, 83 male and 71 female, were randomly selected from the outpatient respiratory diseases clinic of a tertiary hospital in Dubai, UAE over a 3-month period. Patients were asked to complete a structured questionnaire and data were analyzed using STATA 12 software.Results: Most of the patients were within the age range of 0 – 10 years. About 86 % of the patients were overweight. Half of the patients were non-smokers while 51 % of them had a family history of asthma. About 54 % of the patients received multiple drug therapy of which two-drug combinations were widely prescribed (31 %). The most utilized drug classes were short acting β-agonists (42 %), xanthine drugs (16 %), leukotriene modifiers (14 %) and oral and intravenous corticosteroids (13 %). Statistical significant differences among the age groups (F = 2.33, p = 0.0275) were found.Conclusion: Primary prevention to reduce the level of exposure to common risk factors for asthma would be a vital step to control the disease. More resources should be channeled into educating physicians and patients on rational drug utilization to improve the quality of patients’ care.Keywords: Asthma, utilization of medicines, β-agonists, Xanthines, Leukotriene modifiers, Rational drug utilization
Highlights
Drugs play an important role in improving human health and promoting well-being if used rationally
In the current study we investigated the pattern of drug use for asthma medications taking into consideration the demographic variations among patient population
Two hundred patients visiting the outpatient respiratory diseases clinics were randomly selected during a period of three months (September to December 2012)
Summary
Drugs play an important role in improving human health and promoting well-being if used rationally. Drug utilization reviews (DUR) provide a powerful tool to assess knowledge and awareness of patients and physicians on the proper use of medications [1]. DUR is increasingly used as a tool for cost containment and quality assurance. There are three types of DUR reviews which are prospective, concurrent and retrospective. DURs help regulators implement the appropriate interventions to address certain issues in the health care systems. Among which is designing educational programs to improve prescribing practice and developing standard treatment protocols to treat specific diseases [2]
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