Abstract

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY TO EVALUATE PRESCRIPTION PATTERNS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA INPATIENT DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY UNIT

Thakare. V and *Yadav. P

Abstract

Background: Polypharmacy in psychiatry is becoming the rule rather than the exception. Using more drugs at same time usually occurs where single drugs are considered insufficiently effective. Subjects and methods: The sample consisted of 106 patients from inpatient psychiatry department of a tertiary care teaching hospital. All schizophrenic patients hospitalised during the six month period in 2012 were included in the study. The following data was collected for each patient: age, sex, type of drug prescribed second generation antipsychotics (SGA), first generation antipsychotics (FGA), anticholinergics, anxiolytics, antimaniac, antidepressant and any other concomitant medication. Results: In present study polypharmacy was given in 56 (52.83%) cases .Combinations of FGA and SGA was Prescribed in 71% patients Receiving antipsychotics combinations. Most commonly prescribed combination was Olanzepine and Haloperidol in 57%. Conclusion: Polypharmacy is the inevitable approach in the treatment of schizophrenic psychosis. A multi - drug therapy trend was observed & shift towards the use o atypical antipsychotic agents was evident. Concomitant anticholinergic were used only in 12% of the patients reflecting its reduced usage with increasing use of newer atypical antipsychotics.

Keywords: age, sex, olanzepine and haloperidol.