Changing trends in anti-psychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan

Anti-psychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan

  • Mazhar Malik Rawal Institute of Health Sciences
  • M. Usman Ghani
  • Wardha Mazhar
  • Nargis Munir
Keywords: Polypharmacy, Prescription pattern, Psychotropic drugs, Schizophrenia. Antipsychotics

Abstract

Background and Objective: This study was designed to identify the changing trends in Antipsychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan. It was part of the research project Research on East Asian Psychotropic Prescription Pattern (REAP) carried out to identify the prescription patterns of schizophrenic patients in different countries located in Asia. Our objective was to assess the trend and change of psychotropic drug prescriptions for patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: The design of the study was quantitative and of descriptive epidemiology. This study was carried out from 30th March 2017. Data was collected on a unified protocol by the Psychiatrists from Pakistan. Three (3) centers i.e., Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad provided the data. Indoor and outdoor cases with Schizophrenia were recruited. A web based recording system for collection of data done at Taipei Taiwan, and statistical analysis was performed and transferred to all participating centers including Pakistan.

Results: The main findings of the study were that majority of the patients were prescribed antipsychotic poly pharmacy drug. It was also found that Anxiolytics, anti-depressants and Antiparkinsonian drugs were also co-prescribed.

Conclusion: It was concluded that antipsychotic poly pharmacy along with Anxiolytics, anti-depressants and Anti-parkinsonian drugs were prescribed to patients with schizophrenia in Pakistan.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.136

How to cite this:
Malik M, Ghani MU, Mazhar W, Munir N. Changing trends in anti-psychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(3):653-657. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.136

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published
2019-05-21
How to Cite
Malik, M., Ghani, M. U., Mazhar, W., & Munir, N. (2019). Changing trends in anti-psychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan: Anti-psychotic prescription pattern in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.136
Section
Original Articles