Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29862200›Full record

ArticlePerspectives in clinical research

Drug prescription behavior: A cross-sectional study in public health facilities in two states of North India.

Jaya Prasad Tripathy, Pankaj Bahuguna, Shankar Prinja

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Perspectives in clinical research. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Jaya Prasad TripathyCentre for Operational Research, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, The Union South East Asia Office, New Delhi, India.
Pankaj BahugunaSchool of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Shankar PrinjaSchool of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research · INInternational Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPoor prescription practices result in increased side effects, adverse drug reactions, and high cost of treatment. The present study was undertaken to describe the drug-prescribing patterns in two North Indian states through prescription auditing. MATERIALS AND

methodsThe study was carried out in 80 public health facilities across 12 districts in two states of Haryana and Punjab (6 in each) covering all levels of care. The information from prescription slips was abstracted on a structured pro forma for all patients who visited the pharmacy of the health facility.

resultsA total of 1609 prescriptions were analyzed. On an average, 2.2 drugs were prescribed per patient. Nearly 84% of the drugs were prescribed from the essential drug list (EDL). Antibiotics were prescribed in 45.3% of prescriptions, followed by vitamins (34.8%) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (33.9%). Drugs were prescribed in their generic names in 70% of cases. Diseases of the ear, nose, and throat (18%) were most common followed by the diseases of the gastrointestinal and renal (17%) and musculoskeletal system (16%). Only 40% of children suffering from diarrhea received oral rehydration salts while 80% of them received antibiotics. Among cases of upper respiratory tract infection, nearly 75% received antibiotics.

conclusionThe results of this study raise concerns about the overuse of antibiotics although most of the drugs (84%) were from the EDL and in generic names (70%). There is lack of data regarding prescription practices which necessitates real-time prescription monitoring through online data entry and transmission.

Indexed as

Antibiotic abusedrug prescriptionsIndiaprescription drug misuserational drug therapy

Identifiers

PMID29862200
PMCPMC5950614
OpenAlexW2802767603

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.