Prescription analysis of rheumatology and endocrinology departments of a teaching hospital in Western India

Abstract

Background: Prescription analysis is the simplest method to observe the current treatment practice in any health-care setting. Biopharmaceuticals are a class of drugs that hold great promise in treating diseases. In recent years, there has been an increase in their consumption. The present analysis was carried out to obtain data on the prescribing patterns and the prevalence of the use of biologics in two departments of a tertiary care hospital through a cross-sectional study. Methodology: The study was conducted as an observational study in the departments of rheumatology and endocrinology of a tertiary care hospital in western India. Data were collected from the prescription notebooks or medical case sheets of patients on treatment in the outpatient departments (OPDs) or wards by the rheumatologists or endocrinologists of the hospital. The World Health Organization core drug use indicators for drug prescription analysis were calculated. Results: A total of 4684 drugs had been prescribed in the 874 patient encounters analyzed with the average number of drugs per prescription being 5.36. While 13.3% of prescriptions in the rheumatology department contained a biologic, more than 55% of prescriptions in the endocrinology department contained a biologic. The commonly used biologics were infliximab and etanercept in the rheumatology department and insulin analogs in the endocrinology department. Conclusion: The use of eight types of biologics in rheumatoid arthritis patients in this study is an indicator of active monitoring of the disease and early intervention. The present study has brought out the rational use of biologics such as infliximab and etanercept in rheumatology and insulin analogs in the endocrinology departments of the hospital.