Study on drug utilization evaluation of anti epileptic drugs

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Drug utilization evaluation (DUE) also referred as drug utilization reviews (DUR) or medication utilization evaluation (MUE) are defined as an authorized, structured, ongoing review of healthcare provider prescribing, pharmacist dispensing, and patient use of medication. Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are those which are used for epilepsy and also for other neurological disorders. METHODOLOGY: A prospective observational questionnaire based cross sectional study in 200 patients of various departments receiving at least one AEDs. The subjects were included in the study only after they met the criteria for the study and after properly filling a informed consent form. The data was obtained by a questionnaire format and it is evaluated for utilization patterns, medication adherence. The cost of AEDs were calculated to evaluate total costs on each drug. RESULTS: Out of 200 patients, 140 were male and 60 were female. The age group 11- 20 years were found prominent with epilepsy. The average number of AEDs per patient was found to be 1.54. Among all the drugs prescribed phenytoin was the most common drug prescribed 148 (47.89%) for the treatment, followed by lorazepam 59 (19.09 %) and sodium valproate 27 (8.73 %). Maximum of the patients are high in utilization patterns and also in medication adherence. The chi-square value was 1.1373 and 1.3886 for medication adherence and utilization patterns respectively. CONCLUSION: Medication adherence was also high in patients which was found using morisky medication adherence scale. The utilization pattern was also 82 % by the patients. The cost effectiveness was done by comparing the costs of drugs prescribed during the study. It was found that topiramate is having high cost which can be burden to patient to adhere the therapy.