PRESCRIBING PATTERNS OF ANTIBIOTICS IN THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY DISEASES IN TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Background: Pulmonary diseases inflict an immense worldwide health burden. According to World health Organization (WHO) around 1 billion people suffer either from acute or chronic pulmonary diseases. The harsh reality is that, 4 million people die prematurely from chronic pulmonary disease, each year. The aim of the study was to assess various prescribing pattern of antibiotics received by patients from the healthcare professionals. Methods: The study was prospective observational study conducted for the period of six months starting from August 2019 to February 2020 in medicine department of Tertiary care teaching Hospital, Davanagere, Karnataka. Result: Total of 150 patients were enrolled in the study, the prevalence was found higher in male (79%) compared to female (21%). The common type of pulmonary disease observed was the Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (44%) and the least observed was the pneumonia (4.6%). In our study, Majority of antibiotics prescribed were Ceftriaxone 140(55.55%) followed by Azithromycin 59(23.41%), Piperacillin/Tazobactum 12(4.76%). Among 150 patients, 71.3% (107) were observed without comorbidities and 28.6% (43) were observed with comorbidities. As per data of the current study, patient with COPD were prescribed with highest number of antibiotics. Hypertension 12(27.9%) was found to be common comorbidity followed by Cor pulmonale 9(20.93%) and type 2 diabetes mellitus 6(13.95%). Conclusion: Patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) were prescribed with highest rates of antibiotics. Monotherapy was preferred over combinational therapy. Also, study showed that antibiotics were prescribed in high numbers in mild to moderate condition. So, clinicians should emphasize on safely reducing the volume of antibiotics in mild to moderate condition and promote rational prescribing of antibiotics. Key Words: Antibiotics, Pulmonary diseases, Prescribing pattern, Monotherapy, COPD