An audit of the use of antirheumatic drugs in a North Indian referral hospital

Objective This study was conducted with the aim of auditing the pattern of use of antirheumatic drugs in a tertiary care hospital in Northern India. Methods The study was carried out in 1000 patients recruited sequentially f rom the clinic for a period of 1 year (January to December 1999). Patient d ata such as age, sex, income, family size, diagnosis, duration of illness, drugs prescribed/duration, adverse drug reaction were noted and used to cal culate core drug use indicators and pattern of drug use. Results The pattern of drug use was in accordance with the standard practic es followed internationally. In rheumatoid arthritis the most common prescr iptions were for non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alone, follo wed by the combination of NSAIDs, disease modifying agents (DMARDs) and ste roids. Of the NSAIDs diclofenac was the most frequently prescribed drug, wh ile chloroquine was the most commonly used DMARD. The most commonly seen ad verse drug reactions were gastritis, Cushings syndrome and decreased visual acuity. Conclusion In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that in this clinic, the pattern of use of antirheumatic drugs follows standard guidelines. Copy right (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.