Background: Skin disorders form 2% of total Out Patient Department consultations worldwide. But no such data is available from India. Studying prescription pattern is a component of medical audit that help prescribers to provide rational and cost-effective medical care. This study is about the prescription pattern of antifungals in this institution and will help in developing local policies for appropriate use of antifungal drugs. The objective was to study the prescription pattern of antifungals in dermatological diseases.Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted from 1st June 2017 to 30th November 2017 in Dermatology Department. Prescriptions included all newly diagnosed patients with cutaneous fungal infection of both sex who attended Dermatology OPD. Factors considered were sociodemographic parameters, number of patients with combination and monotherapy, number of single topical agents and Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) details of prescribing indicators.Results: 1500 prescriptions were analysed; 500 prescriptions were of fungal infection. 40.2% of the patients were in 18-35 years age group. There were a greater number of males (59.6%) than females (40.4%).Conclusions: The most common oral antifungal used was fluconazole. Terbinafine and clotrimazole were the most commonly used topical agents.
primary and secondary cutaneous complaints, which are particularly more common in India. Among these, allergy and itches are widely observed in most of these patients. Many people suffer from common skin problems that are common in all the age groups. The skin problems that are commonly found are acne, burn scars, hyperhidrosis, psoriasis, scabies, vitiligo, pediculosis, herpes simplex infection, varicella, herpes zoster, erythema, urticaria, and so on. [1] Corticosteroids play a vital role in the treatment of many diseases including skin. Probably, it has greater applications in dermatological practice in topical form. These drugs are extensively prescribed by the consultants because of their strong immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory actions. This practice has led to quite often overprescribing of these Background: Considering the economic burden of the skin disease treatment and because of its high disease prevalence, it is important to study the drug prescribing patterns of skin diseases. The data pertaining to drug usage patterns of topical corticosteroids in skin conditions are particularly lacking.Objective: To study the demographic details and drug prescription pattern in patients with skin diseases who were on topical corticosteroids. for 6 months. The patients with skin diseases who were on topical corticosteroids were included. The data were collected prospectively by direct observation in a specially designed pro forma containing relevant detail such as demographic, disease, and drug data. The data were analyzed as counts and percentages.Result: The patients were of age < 20 years (33%) and 21-40 years (30%), with female subjects (62%) being the majority; patients from rural area (62%) were commonly affected. The most common skin conditions encountered were dermatitis (47%) and psoriasis (14%). The most common topical corticosteroid prescribed was clobetasol propionate (60%). Many of the topical corticosteroids were prescribed in fixed dose combination (42%). Majority of the topical corticosteroids prescribed were of very potent (73%) and potent (14%). Average drug per prescription was 3.6. In prescriptions, 57% were specified using generic names. None of them were specified with either strength or quantity. Only 21% were specified with area of application, 25% with route of administration, and 23% with frequency of administration.
Conclusion:There is a need to put more emphasis on rational and complete prescribing of drugs for skin diseases.
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