Utilization patterns of benzodiazepines in psychiatric patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital

To assess the utilization patterns of benzodiazepines in psychiatric patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital, a prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 8 months. Drug therapy details in medication chart review and clinical review in patients treated with benzodiazepines was analyzed to measure the utilization pattern of benzodiazepines in terms of defined daily dose (DDD) per 100 bed-days. A total of 160 patients, including 88.8% of males and 11.2% of females, were included in the study. Most of the patients were between the age groups of 30-39 years (33.1%). The most common clinical conditions treated with benzodiazepines were mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol (65.6%). The majority of patients were prescribed with lorazepam (83.1%). The DDD per 100 bed-days of benzodiazepines were found to be 0.98. The prescribed daily dose and DDD of benzodiazepines were 57.16 ± 30.3 and 89.69 ± 39.16, respectively. The total cost per DDD of benzodiazepines was 28.9 Indian Rupees (INR). Our study results indicate that the most common clinical conditions treated with benzodiazepines were mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol and the majority of patients were prescribed lorazepam.