Background: Acute febrile illness has various etiologies. Different antimicrobials are used for different causes of fever to treat and there are interpersonal variations in prescription of antimicrobials. Therefore this study aims at to analyze the trends in the antimicrobial prescription in patients of acute febrile illness due to various etiologies in the medicine department of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It is a record based observational study that was carried out at NKP salve institute of medical sciences and RC, Nagpur. 200 case record files of patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute febrile illness in the dept. of Medicine due to various etiologies were analyzed. Antibiotics prescribed for various causes of acute febrile illness like respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infection, gastrointestinal infection, malarial infections, septicemia, meningitis, pyrexia of unknown origin etc. were noted and data was analyzed for prescription pattern of antimicrobials.Results: Out of 200 patients of febrile illness the common clinical conditions for which antibiotics were prescribed were respiratory tract infections (upper respiratory tract infection 25.5% and lower respiratory tract infection 14%), acute gastroenteritis (20%), and urinary tract infection (13.5%) followed by, pyrexia of unknown origin (8.5%), viral fever (8%), malaria (7%), hepatitis A (1.5%), meningitis (1%) and rickettsial infection (1%). The commonly prescribed antibiotics were ceftriaxone in (19.37%) and cefixime (15.93%) followed by coamoxiclav (12.5%), azithromycin (11.87%), doxycycline (10.31%), ofloxacin and ornidazole (8.43%), levofloxacin (6.25%), ofloxacin (4.68%), ciprofloxacin (1.87%), artesunate (3.75%), artemether and lumefantrine (4.37%) and valacyclovir (0.625%).Conclusions: Our study concluded that most common disease for which antibiotics prescribed were respiratory tract infection and gasterointestinal infections. Most common antibiotic used were third generation cephalosporins especially ceftriaxone and cefixime.

In patients with depression, fluoxetine increases bleeding time whereas escitalopram has no effect on coagulation profile. However, both the drugs can be used safely for long-term treatment.

No abstract

Background: In psychiatric practice, antidepressant drugs are widely used group of drugs. Number of drugs are available in this group with diverse type of mechanisms and efficacy/safety profile. The objective for the study was to identify the prescribing pattern of antidepressant drugs in psychiatric patients at a tertiary care hospital and to see the distribution of antidepressant drugs in the sociodemographic group.Methods: It was a record based descriptive study which was carried out at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Nagpur. Case record files of all the patients suffering from depression and other psychiatric disorders and treated with antidepressant drugs during the period of from 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2015 by institutional psychiatrists were analyzed for prescription pattern of antidepressant drugs and their age and sex wise distribution.Results: A total no. of 300 patients received antidepressant drugs. The most commonly prescribed drug was escitalopram in 121 (40.3%) patients followed by fluoxetine in 61 (20.3%) and clomipramine in 30 (10%) patients. Other drugs that were prescribed were mirtazapine in 24 (8%), nortryptiline in 21 (7%), venlafaxine in 13 (4.3%), fluvoxamine in 12 (4%), amitryptiline in 9 (3%), dothiepin in 5 (1.6%) and duloxetine in 4 (1.3%) patients. Also patients in the age group of 31-40 yrs and 21-30 yrs received most number of antidepressants i.e. 129 (40.3%) and 83 (27.6%) patients respectively. Females have received more antidepressant drugs as compared to males.Conclusions: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed group of antidepressant drugs. Escitalopram followed by Fluoxetine were the most commonly prescribed drugs for the management of depression and other psychiatric disorders because of their better efficacy, safety, tolerability and less side effects as compared to TCAs. Females suffer more from depression and other psychiatric disorders as compared to males and the most vulnerable is 21 to 40 yrs of age.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a common health problem worldwide, associated with several co-morbidities. It requires longer therapy, and is crippling in terms of cost management. The objective of this study was to evaluate co-morbidities in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes and concomitant medications used along with antidiabetic drugs, also analyzing individually cost of drug therapy.Methods: It is an observational, cross sectional study. The study was conducted at outpatient department, Medicine at a tertiary care hospital. Prescriptions of patients attending the clinic, suffering from type 2 diabetes were analyzed for antidiabetic drugs and other concomitant medications for associated co-morbidities. Their age, sex, number of medications and their costs were noted.Results: Out of 60 patients evaluated, 36 (60%) were males and 24 (40%) were females. Hypertension in 54 (90%) of the patients and hyperlipidaemia in 23 (38.33%) are the important comorbidities. Metformin was most commonly prescribed antidiabetic drug in this study in 41 (68%), followed by glimepiride 18 (30%), tenegliptin 10 (16.67%), voglibose in 6 (10%) and others. Mean cost of drug therapy to a person was INR 1408.8 per month and INR 16905.6 per annum.Conclusions: Hypertension 54 (90%) and hyperlipidaemia 23 (38.33%) were the most common associated comorbidities. Metformin and glimepiride were the most common antidiabetic drugs used. Antihypertensive and hypolipidemics were commonly prescribed concomitant medications. Mean cost of drug therapy per person was INR 1408.8 per month and INR 16905.6 per annum.