ASSESSMENT OF PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF BRONCHODILATORS FOR PATIENTS WITH RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTION IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Jacob N. Thomas*, Harshith A. S., Chandragiri Naveen Kumar Reddy and A. Vikneswari

ABSTRACT

Background: Respiratory disorder such as Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and RTI may account for an estimated burden of about 100 million individuals in India. There are limited data on the burden of respiratory disease in India. There is a growing appreciation of the benefits of bronchodilation beyond lung function, such as exacerbations, patient-reported outcomes, exercise tolerance and exercise capacity, and daily activities. Objectives: This was a prospective observational study with the aim of analysing the drug prescribing patterns of bronchodilators for patients with RTI in a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: The study has been conducted on male and female patients who were satisfying the inclusion criteria. A suitably designed case record form was prepared and used to record all the necessary and relevant data from the medical records of patients. Result: A total of 173 patients were analyzed in our study. In that, 22 were LRTI patients, 18 were Pneumonia patients, 7 were Post TB sequel with LRTI, 1 was Pneumonia with TB patient, 1 was LRTI with Pneumonia with COPD and 1 was TB with Asthma patient. Remaining cases belongs to other respiratory disorder. Out of 173 cases 8% were below 30 years, 16% were between 31 to 50 years, 59% were between 51 to 70 years and 17% were above 70 years old. Out of 173 cases, 126 were males and 47 were females. We divided 173 patients based on their smoking habit. 79 patients (46%) were found to be smokers, 55 patients (35%) were non-smokers and 33 patients (19%) were ex-smokers. The most used pattern of bronchodilator therapy is combination therapy of Anticholinergic + Beta 2 sympathomimetic + Methylxanthine (57.80%) followed by Anticholinergic + Beta 2 sympathomimetic (27.74%), Beta 2 sympathomimetics(10.40%) and Beta 2 sympathomimetic + Methylxanthine (4.04%). Most used (97.68%) route of bronchodilator therapy is nebulization (alone or with other routes) followed by intravenous, oral route of administration. Conclusion: Pulmonary disorders such as Asthma, COPD, LRTI etc. are prominent causes of death in the world. The majority of patients have intermittent exacerbations of RTI due to the inadequate pattern of drug use.

Keywords: Pulmonary disorder, RTI, Bronchodilator.