Drug utilization study in acute febrile illnesses in a tertiary care hospital of central India

Abstract

Acute febrile illness (AFI) can be caused by various aetiologies. Different antimicrobials are available to be used depending on the cause. Also, there are interpersonal variations in the prescription of these antimicrobials. Antibiotic stewardship programs frequently employ antibiotic policies to reduce the needless use of drugs and improve management. As a result, the purpose of this study is to examine current patterns in the use of antibiotics in patients with acute febrile illness.It is an observational study based on records that were conducted at a tertiary care hospital. 300 patient case files with acute febrile illnesses were admitted to the Department of Medicine after analysing numerous etiologies for antibiotic usage. Antibiotics for different aetiologies of febrile sickness were noted in a case record form. Data collected were analysed for proportion to find the prescription pattern of antimicrobials.Respiratory tract infections, especially upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) (26.6%) are frequent clinical diseases for which antibiotics were administered followed by acute gastroenteritis (16%), urinary tract infection (UTI) (12.3%) and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) (9.6%), dengue fever (9%) & viral fever (8.3%). Ceftriaxone (20%) was one of the most frequently prescribed antibiotics and Piperacillin+ Tazobactum (16.25%) was followed by Amoxycillin + clavulanic acid (10.5%), Clarithromycin (8.5%), Cefuroxime (7.25%). According to our analysis, respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal infections were the two conditions for which antibiotics were most frequently administered. Third-generation cephalosporins, particularly ceftriaxone and cefixime, were the most frequently used antibiotics.