Abstract
Background Newborns in neonatal care units are exposed to a considerable number of medications. Although patterns of drug utilization in neonatal care units are changing rapidly, current data on drug utilization patterns in neonatal care units are limited, especially with regard to term neonates. Objectives The aim of the study was to describe the drug utilization pattern, its associated factors and total drug cost on term neonates admitted to the Neonatal Care Unit (NCU) at Teaching Hospital Kandy (THK). Methods and materials This study was a secondary analysis of data based on a follow-up study conducted among term neonates delivered at Teaching Hospital Kandy. A total of 175 neonates were studied over a period of 4 months, from February to May 2015. Results Benzylpenicillin was the most frequently used drug and on average 6.16 (+2.99) drugs were prescribed per neonate. Only length of stay and sex was associated with average drug use per neonate. Nearly seventy percent of total drug cost to treat term neonates was spent on 2 drugs; gentamicin and surfactant. All the other individual drugs account for a proportion of ten percent or less. Conclusions Being the drug which is responsible for the heights share of total drug cost, gentamicin should be monitored closely to ensure rational use. Similar studies done in large scale at regular intervals can reflect the changing patterns of drug prescribing, which helps the healthcare planners to develop necessary guidelines and take action to make necessary drugs available.
Highlights
All drugs were coded as per World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, 6 to describe the utilization pattern according to the organ or system on which they act
Half (49.2%) of the term neonates were delivered at early term (37 or 38 weeks of gestation)
Present study gave us the overall pattern of drug use in a tertiary care NCU in Sri Lanka and reflects the main neonatal conditions for which term neonates were admitted to the unit
Summary
All drugs were coded as per World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, 6 to describe the utilization pattern according to the organ or system on which they act. Neonatal conditions were classified based on the main neonatal condition according to the ICD 10 classification.[7]. Categorical variables were expressed as counts (Percentages) and continuous variables as mean and median with range. Due to the skewed distribution number of drug according to the newborn characteristics were tested by using Kruskal-Wallis H nonparametric test. Data were analysed by using Microsoft Access, Excel 2016 versions and SPSS 20th version
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