Abstract
Objective: To determine the prescription pattern of anti-diabetics drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes at Levy Mwanawasa General and Chilenje Level 1 Hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by reviewing the diabetic patients’ prescriptions with diabetic drugs from outpatient department from January to December, 2016. Data generated from this study was analyzed using SPSS version 23. The P value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Descriptive statistics and one way analysis of variance (One way -ANOVA) statistical techniques were used to analyze data. Results: Of the total of 384 patients’ prescriptions, 63% were female and the majority of patients belonged to the age group 51-60 years indicating 28%. 51% of the prescriptions had 2 to 3 antidiabetic drugs written by generic name. Metformin/Daonil combination was highly prescribed with 57%, followed by Metformin as Monotherapy at 19%. Conclusion: This study reported that female patients were significantly more affected with diabetes associated with cardiovascular complications than male patients reviewing 37% for male and 67% female. Most of the patients were on combination therapy of Metformin /Glibenclamide in the frequency TDS/OD. The choice of drug based on demographic data, economic status, associated conditions and complications would give additional insights into prescribing patterns in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus a chronic non-communicable disease that has struck worldwide that has become an important global public health problem requiring lifelong treatment worldwide [1,2]
Figure shows that 22% of prescriptions were reviewed from Chilenje First Level Hospital whole 78% were reviewed at Levy Mwanawasa Hospital respectively, this was due to the number of Outpatient attendance and the difference in the catchment between the two facilities
Studies have shown that an increase in the body mass index (BMI) among females in southern Africa could be the reason for an increase in the number of female patients that have type 2 diabetes and receiving treatment [13]
Summary
Diabetes mellitus a chronic non-communicable disease that has struck worldwide that has become an important global public health problem requiring lifelong treatment worldwide [1,2]. The stimulation of endogenous insulin secretion, enhancement of insulin action at the target tissues, inhibition of dietary starch and lipid degradation, and insulin replacement are currently the available therapeutic strategies for the treatment of diabetes [5,6]. Pharmacist and prescribers are left in a dilemma when selecting drugs for individual patients leading to ineffective treatment, unnecessary prescription and 50% wastage of antidiabetic drugs increasing the economic burden on developing countries [9,10] It is unclear whether the prescriptions by the prescribers comply with current evidence and clinical guidelines in the management of diabetes in each country [8]
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