Prescribing pattern of anti diabetic drugs in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus with co-existing hypertension in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus and hypertension frequently co-exist in a patient. In such patients, the risk of complications, morbidity and mortality increases. One should be careful in management and choosing drugs. Authors undertook this study to understand the prescribing pattern of the physicians in diabetic hypertensive patients.Methods: This cross sectional, observational study was conducted in type 2 diabetic outdoor patients with co-existing hypertension, for duration of one year. We used descriptive statistics to analyze data of 615 patients to determine prescribing pattern of drugs.Results: 93.17% of patients were more than 40 years of age. Ratio of female to male patients was 1.30. Mean duration of diabetes was 5.81 years. Multi drug anti diabetic regimes (54.47%) were common than monotherapy (43.90%). Commonly prescribed anti diabetic drug groups were biguanides (89.27%), Sulfonylureas (43.90%) and insulin (15.28%). Metformin (89.27%), glibenclamide (29.11%) and insulin (15.28%) were commonly prescribed anti diabetic drugs. Metformin was the most common monotherapy drug and biguanide + sulfonylurea was the most common two drug combination. Commonly prescribed drugs for co-morbid conditions were enalapril (83.41%), aspirin (30.41%), amlodipine (29.76%) atorvastatin (27.32%) and famotidine (26.34%). Average number of drugs prescribed in a prescription was 4.65. Prescriptions with injections were 15.93% and with brand names were 13.15%.Conclusions: Prescribing pattern of drugs was as per current practices and recommendations of guidelines. Still, there is room for improvement in choice of drug, prescribing drug with generic name and choosing drug from essential medicine list.

Drug Utilization Evaluation of Antidiabetic Agents in Primary Care Clinics of a South Indian Rural Province

“…However, in the mixed combination of parenteral and oral therapy, isophane basal insulin plus metformin plus acarbose was the preferred choice. These findings were consistent with an earlier study by Sharma et al, in which the majority of the population received metformin as a monotherapy (n=230, 85.19%), biguanide plus sulphonylureas as dual drug therapy (n=233, 74.92%), and biguanide plus sulphonylurea plus thiazolidinedione as triple antidiabetic therapy [40]. Similar to the current study, only a small proportion of the diabetes population (n=129, 31.46%, and n=28, 20.17%) was prescribed insulin as monotherapy in previous studies [41,42].…”

Prescription audit and drug interactions of anti-diabetic drugs at Outpatient Department at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Eastern Nepal

“…21 Vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements were prescribed to about 10.0% of the patients in our study and similar findings was also reported by Eze Uchenna et al 14 These findings indicated that there might be an influence of pharmaceutical In our study, metformin (40.7%) was commonly prescribed drug and this finding aligned with other studies. [22][23][24] About half of patients (48.5%) were prescribed three antidiabetic drugs in the present study and it was not consistent with Sharma et al 22 in which majority (50.6%) patients were prescribed two antidiabetic drugs. The study findings supported trend of combined antidiabetic therapy to achieve better glycemic control and to prevent progression of disease.…”

“…The study findings supported trend of combined antidiabetic therapy to achieve better glycemic control and to prevent progression of disease. 25 In our study, average number of drugs per prescription was 5.7 that was higher than study by Eze Uchenna et al 14 (4.7) and Sharma et al 22 (4.2) and these findings unfortunately deviate from the WHO standard (1.6-1.8). 26,27 It might be due to fact that the diabetic patients might have multiple comorbidities along with the various complications that lead to polypharmacy.…”

Prescribing patterns of antidiabetic drugs and glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes patients visiting tertiary care hospital based in Karachi, Pakistan

“…5 Similarly, in another study conducted among type-2 DM patients with hypertension as a comorbidity, metformin was the most frequently prescribed antidiabetic drug as a monotherapy, accounting for 85.19% of such prescriptions. 6 Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prescription patterns and assess the effectiveness of antidiabetic drugs, both as monotherapy and in combination therapy, in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with or without other medical conditions (comorbidities). The study also shed light on how these drugs are prescribed and how effective they are in managing T2DM in different patient populations.…”