Rational Drug Use (RDU)

In India. Fixed Dose Combinations(FDCs) have drawn the attention of health service providers and the service recipients. Therefore, the development of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) is becoming increasingly important from a public health  perspective. The objective was to study the prescribing pattern and to assess the rationality of fixed dose combinations using seven point criteria. During the study period a total of 100 patients were enrolled based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study population includes an overall 56% male with an average age of 46.15 ± 19.33 years. A total of 538 drugs were prescribed to the patient with a mean of 5.38±5.77.The major therapeutic category of drugs prescribed were antibiotics (30.03%), antihypertensives (12.63%) and others (13.01%).The study population had 130 FDCs in which again antibiotics topped the list, followed by Anti-diabetics. Among these 92 contributed to antibiotic FDCs belonging to 15 different groups. The average interaction per prescription was 1.96±3.72.The FDCs involved in drug interaction were aspirin+clopidogrel, amoxicillin+ clavulanic acid. The average length of stay for study population was found to be 5.73±2.19 days. The rationality was assessed using 7 point criteria with a maximum scoring of 14. The most commonly prescribed combination were Piperacillin + Tazobactam (25.38%) and Amoxicillin+ Clavulanic acid(16.92%).Among the combinations, 26.6% scored 13 while 66.66% scored 9-12 and 6.66%scored 7. The results indicated that majority of FDCs especially antibiotics were rational.