Valuation of prescription patterns of <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> drugs in outpatient department, Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital

Abstract

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori infects up to half of the world’s population. Infection with Helicobacter pylori is a major contributing factor for gastric ulcers, gastric carcinoma, and extra gastric disease. The main aim of this study was to observe the prescription patterns of Helicobacter pylori drugs at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital, Meru. This infection is mostly treated by a triple-drug regimen for successful eradication. The available regimens are a combination of proton pump inhibitors, antibiotics, bismuth sulfate, and histamine blockers. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional retrospective review of the patient files for Helicobacter pylori was done at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital (MeTRH). Systematic random sampling was used to select 262 medical records for review. Data was collected using the pre-tested abstraction forms and was coded and analyzed for descriptive statistics. RESULTS Out of the 262 medical records that were reviewed, 147 (56.4%) were males prescribed the Helicobacter pylori drug regimen. Among all the young adults (age: 12-39 years) were more likely to get Helicobacter pylori infection. The medication regimens that were highly preferred at MeTRH were 14-day and 7-day clarithromycin triple-based therapy. The 14-day triple therapy accounted for 74.5% of all patient files. The most administered drug class for Helicobacter pylori were proton pump inhibitors at 45.3% followed by antibiotics at 38.8% and the least prescribed drugs were the H2 blockers with 15.9%. CONCLUSION Regarding the most prescribed drug, the proton pump inhibitors while the most preferred regimen was the 14-day clarithromycin triple-based therapy. This data will certainly be important for the pharmaceutical management chain to manage the stock of analyzed drugs and also can spread awareness regards the appropriate handling of drugs which can improve adherence and reduce the rate of treatment failure and the emergence of antibiotic drug resistance.