Antimicrobial prescribing pattern in the treatment of acute respiratory tract infections in children in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Acute respiratory infections are among the most common causes of physician consultation in the pediatric age group. Typically, the underlying etiology is viral, hence does not always requiring antibiotic prescription. However, antibiotics are often used for the treatment of many acute respiratory infections. Hence the present study was undertaken to analyse the current prescribing trends of antimicrobial use in acute respiratory tract infection in children in a tertiary care hospital and to do a quantitative analysis of overall antimicrobials used and their source.Methods: This is a cross sectional, observational study conducted in the pediatrics inpatient department of tertiary care hospital. A total of 100 cases which included both upper respiratory tract infection and lower respiratory tract infection patients were analyzed. The total duration of study was 6 months.Results: Penicillins were the most commonly prescribed class of drugs.Conclusions: We noted a favourable trend towards monotherapy. All drugs in our study were prescribed by generic name