Abstract

A PROSPECTIVE OBSEVATIONAL STUDY ON PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF ANTIBIOTICS IN GERIATRIC PATIENT IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Divyaraj M. V.*, Dr. Lynel Venston Saldhana, Jijimol Raj and Swathy Suku Kunnampallil

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Abstract

Antibiotic is a substance that is produced by a microorganism or a semi synthetic substance derived from a microorganism which kills or inhibit the growth of another microorganism at low concentration. Antibiotics are essential in the treatment of infections in humans and animals caused by bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs as a result of unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics. It stops an antibiotic from working effectively against bacteria it means that some infections may become very difficult to treat. So, rational use of antibiotics is very important. The bioavailability of a drug depends on absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination which are altered due to various physiological changes. Elderly individuals are at high risk of developing drug-drug interactions and adverse drug effects so use of pharmacological agent is much difficult. Out of 97 patients, majority of the patients belonged to the age group of 60-65 and most of the patients were males. Maximum number of patients diagnosed with CAD. Beta-lactam + Beta-lactamase inhibitors were found to the major class of drug prescribed. HTN was the majority comorbidity in the patients followed by DM. 119 antibiotics were prescribed as monotherapy and Cefixime was the most commonly prescribed among them and 54 antibiotics were given as combination therapy, among that Piperacillin + Tazobactam was given commonly. Intravenous injections were the most common route of administration and injections were the common formulation given. The average number of days patients received antibiotics was 1-5 days and majority of the patients had one antibiotic in their prescription. Majority of the antibiotics prescribed by brand name. Antibiotics are classified based on WHO model list of essential medicine 2019 and in our study, we found that 68.79% of prescribed antibiotics falls under the class of Watch. Meropenem was the antibiotic that was not mentioned in the WHO list. According to Beers criteria, only Nitrofurantoin was asked to be monitored.

Keywords: Prescribing pattern, Geriatrics, Antibiotics.