Drug prescribing in children in a North Indian referral hospital

Objective - Pattern of drug use in an ambulatory paediatric patients in a t ertiary care hospital in Northern India was studied. Methods - Prescribing patterns were studied prospectively, using drug use i ndicators developed by WHO/International Network for Rational Utilization o f Drugs (INRUD). Results - The most frequent diagnosis was seizure disorder (26.9%) and anti epileptics were the most often prescribed drugs (24.6); followed by vitamin and mineral supplements (20.1%), and cough/cold preparations (16%). Use of vitamin and mineral supplements was disproportionately high (20.1%) when c ompared to the number of cases of anaemia (2.3% and malnutrition (2.6%). Th e average number of drugs per encounter (1.32), percentage of encounters wi th an antibiotic (6.1%) or injection (0.2%) prescribed, were all within the acceptable range. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was t oo low, at 11.2%. Conclusion - Barring the frequent use of supplements and low rate of generi c prescribing: prescribing trends were found to be rational in other aspect s in the study population. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.