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NJBMS - Volume 7, Issue 3, January - March 2017

Pages: 172-181
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Prescription Pattern In Patients Of Metabolic Syndrome In a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital: An Observational Study

Author: Shukla Prashant, Gupta Anita, Sehgal Vijay K, Kumar Raghuvansh

Category: Pharmacology

Abstract:

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a complex constellation of risk factors characterized by hypertension, abdominal obesity, increased triglycerides and blood glucose and decreased HDL cholesterol. In this study, the prescription pattern in diagnosed patients of metabolic syndrome was examined.

Materials and Methods: This was an observational, cross sectional study in which one hundred prescriptions of metabolic syndrome patients on medical therapy attending the Medicine OPD of GMC/Rajindra Hospital, Patiala were analyzed. All the prescriptions were analyzed for the pattern of the medication prescribed. All the observations thus made were statistically analyzed using appropriate tests.

Results: The mean age of patients was 58.27±10.32 years. There were 57 female patients and 43 male patients. Various prescribed medication groups were anti-diabetic drugs (99%), anti- hypertensive drugs (76%) and hypolipidemic drugs (59%). The various anti-diabetic groups prescribed were biguanides (85%), sulphonylureas (76%), DPPIs (28%), α-Glucosidase inhibitors (16%), thiazolidinediones (15%) and insulin (8%). The various anti-hypertensive groups were angiotensin receptor antagonists (42%), beta-blockers (29%), CCBs (29%), diuretics (29%) and ACE inhibitors (17%). The WHO core prescribing indicators were: average number of drug per prescription (5.64); drugs prescribed by generic name (3.19%); prescriptions with antibiotic (3%); prescriptions with an injection (8%); and drugs from essential drug list (52.62%).

Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome is not a single disease entity but a group of concomitant disorders together. Hence the prescription of drugs in these patients follows a pattern which quite aptly mirrors the symptomatology of the syndrome. This is one condition where polypharmacy is appropriate.

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome, Prescription pattern, WHO prescribing indicators, Essential drugs list