Introduction: Quality of life (QOL) of elderly often deteriorates due to many factors. This study was planned to find out the different domains of QOL of elderly people affected by socio-demographic factors. Materials and Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted in Kolkata and Sonarpur area of West Bengal, India from January to December, 2013. The qQOL questionnaire developed by World Health Organization was used (BREF). The scores of QOL were assessed in the light of different socio-demographic characteristics. Results and Analysis: The QOL was significantly lower among people having more age, female, illiterate, financially fully dependent and those having lower socio-economic status. Conclusion: QOL is an important determinant of the living status of elderly and socio-demographic factors determine the QOL in this age group.

Background:The psychological morbidity of the geriatric people is very common. There are different socio-demographic factors affecting the psychological health of elderly, which have not been studied in detail in India. Objective: The present study was framed to fi nd out the association of different socio-demographic factors with the psychological morbidity of the elderly. Materials and Methods: It was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted in Municipal area of Tarakeswar, Hooghly District, West Bengal, India among the geriatric people using a pre-designed, pre-tested, semi-structured schedule to collect the socio-demographic data. General Health Questionnaire-28 was used to collect data regarding psychological morbidity. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 16.0. Results: It was revealed that only 29.4% of the respondents scored within normal range. Multiple linear regression taking total as well as domain-wise scoring as dependent variable revealed that increasing age, female sex, illiteracy, fi nancial dependency on other family members, not living with spouse, and poor socio-economic status are signifi cantly associated with psychological morbidity. Conclusion: Overall mental health condition of geriatric people is not good. Proper rehabilitation measures have to be taken by family members, society, and government like engaging them in light activities of their interest, old age pension scheme or forming self-help group among elderly, which would result in making them happy.

Background: Nosocomial infections are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients especially the critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) where a large number of drugs are administered to the patient’ which in turn leads to the generation of antibiotic resistant pathogens. The present study was conducted to identify the prevalence of predominant bacterial microorganisms and their drug sensitivity and resistance in ICU of a teaching hospital in Eastern India. Methods: A retrospective record based study was conducted in the ICU of Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Odisha, Eastern India from November, 2011 to October, 2012. Patients who were clinically suspected of having acquired any infection after 48 hours of admission to the ICUs were included in the study. The clinically suspected laboratory samples were collected from the patients and subjected to testing and antibiotic sensitivity. Results: The rate of nosocomial infection was 28.2%. Urinary tract infection was the most common infection (54.9%). The predominant isolate was E. coli (52.7%) followed by P. mirabilis (15.4%) and Ps aeruginosa (13.2%). E. coli was highly sensitive to Polymyxin B, Gatifloxacin and Ceftriaxone and showed high degree of resistance to Cephalexin, Cefadroxil, Tobramycin and Prulifloxacin. Conclusions: Most of the bacterial isolates were resistant to third generation Cephalosporins and Aminoglycosides. Regular surveillance of antibiotic susceptibility pattern, judicious use of antibiotics are very important for reducing the nosocomial infection rate and antimicrobial resistance. [Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2013; 2(2.000): 153-159

Background: Drug prescription pattern for the treatment of falciparum malaria differs widely from place to place; but there is also some intra organizational variation of prescription pattern of anti-malarial drugs for the treatment of falciparum malaria.Aims and Objectives: The present study was planned to study the drug utilization pattern for the treatment of falciparum malaria in a tertiary care teaching hospital in eastern India.Materials and Methods: It was a hospital based study conducted in the department of medicine among the patients admitted with confirmed diagnosis of falciparum malaria. Drugs prescribed, average number of drugs per prescription, percentage of drugs prescribed in generic name, percentage of prescription with co-prescription of antibiotics, percentage of prescription having at least an injection prescribed, percentage of drugs prescribed from essential drug list or formulary and average drug cost per prescription are the parameters studied in this study.Results: Average number of drugs per prescription in the present study was 3.96. Artesunate and Mefloquine were the most common anti-malarial drugs prescribed among study subjects. 22.9% patients received oral Chloroquine as anti-malarial drug. 43.3% prescriptions had antibiotics co-prescribed. Only 16.9% drugs were prescribed in generic name. 85.4% of the prescribed drugs were from essential drug list. Average drug cost per patient was Rs. 282/- with minimum of Rs. 55/- and maximum of Rs. 1750/-.Conclusion: Though Artesunate combination therapy is getting popularized gradually but a sizable proportion of patients (22.9%) were prescribed with oral Chloroquine therapy. Generic prescription of drugs should be encouraged among the physicians. Multi-centric study regarding drug prescription can give a broader picture in changing scenario.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(4) 2016 80-83

Background: A wide range of medications are now available for the treatment of asthma, and selection of optimal treatment is essential. Aims and Objective: To evaluate the drug-prescribing trend of antiasthmatic drug in a tertiary-care hospital. Materials and Methods: The prescription data from 130 patients with asthmapatients were studied using a prescription auditing pro forma. Data were recorded from the patients attending the outpatient department of Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital from February to July 2014. Verbal consent was taken from the patients before filling the pro forma. Results: During the study, 130 patients were monitored but only 100 prescriptions were included for data analysis as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Demographic analysis of data revealed that there were 66% men and 34% women in the study. The study showed that maximum patients with asthma belonged to 30-40 years age group. The results of this study showed that most of the patients received combination therapy as compared with individual therapy. Majority of the patients received combination therapy of beta 2 agonists and glucocorticoids via inhalational routes; 34% of the prescribed drugs are from the essential drug lists. Average drugs per prescription were 5.16, and 54% of the patients received more than four drugs. About 60% drugs were given by inhalation route, followed by oral route (38%). Conclusion: There is need to encourage the physician to use the treatment guidelines while managing patients with asthma. In conclusion, National Asthma Education program would benefit as an initial step to improve asthma knowledge and increase awareness in the medical community on current treatment practice.