ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUG PRESCRIBING PATTERN IN TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Dr. Sonali B. Rode, Dr. Harsh V. Salankar*, Dr. Pravin R. Verma

ABSTRACT

Background: Schizophrenia is a complex neurobehavioral disorder affecting about 1% of general population. Prescribing pattern of antipsychotics has seen a major shift in last two decades, from first generation to second generation. Therefore, present study was carried out to analyze the pattern of antipsychotic drug utilization in patients of schizophrenia. Materials and methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in psychiatry OPD of a tertiary care hospital for six months. Diagnosis of schizophrenia was made according to DSM IV-TR criteria. Prescriptions were analyzed for demographic details, distribution of subsets of disease and psychotropic drugs prescribed using WHO indicators. Results: Of the 132 cases analyzed, 57.58% were males and 66.66% were below 40 years. Paranoid schizophrenia (76.5%) was the most common diagnosis and a total of 295 psychotropic drugs were prescribed. Average number of psychotropic drugs per prescription was 2.2 + 0.6. Atypical antipsychotics (78.82%) were prescribed more commonly than typical antipsychotics; olanzapine (42.35%) was the most commonly prescribed followed by risperidone (22.35%), haloperidol (20%), quetapine (8.24%), aripiprazole (4.71%) and clozapine (2.35%). As an adjunctive treatment escitalopram, clonazepam and carbamazepine were commonly prescribed antidepressant, anxiolytic and antimaniac agents respectively. Conclusion: The treatment pattern observed correlates with the changing trends in the treatment of schizophrenia world over.

Keywords: Schizophrenia, drug utilization, atypical antipsychotics.