Abstract

CEFTRIAXONE USAGE PATTERN IN PEDIATRICS IN-PATIENT DEPARTMENT OF A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

K. Swarnalatha*, C. Ramnirup, S.K. Farheen Ali, K. Kavya, Mrunalini Devi, Sushanta K.R. Das and T. Rama Mohan Rao

Abstract

Background: There is evidence of different patterns in drug utilization of ceftriaxone drug in India. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of ceftriaxone in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods: A prospective observational study was of 6 months duration from august 2015 to January 2016 was carried out after the institutional ethical committee approval at pediatric in-patient department. Data was collected in a structured documentation form from case sheets and prescriptions. Data was measured in percentages. To summarize and for analysis of the data SAS software was used. Results: We collected 105 ceftriaxone contained prescriptions. Of these, males (63.8%) and patients with the age group of 1-5 (33%) years were more exposed. We found (71%) of cases were given the drug for correct indication. We also found that (24%) of diagnosis were central nervous system related. We have seen that the maximum dose given per day was highest in case of children of age group 5-14 years. We also identified that the duration of therapy (79%) was found to be high in the range of 2-7 days. We noticed that (50.5%) received the drug based on clinical symptoms. Conclusion: Ceftriaxone was found to be mostly prescribed according to indication. It was found to be highly used in central nervous system diseases followed by gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.

Keywords: Ceftriaxone, drug utilization, usage pattern, pediatrics.