OBJECTIVES:

This study was conducted to assess the prescribing pattern of cardiac specific narrow therapeutic index drugs and high alert medications used in the treatment of cardiac diseases, and their effect on length of stay.

METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months in all patients diagnosed with cardiac diseases above 18 years of age in Cardiology Department.

RESULTS:

Amongst 285 study subjects,majority belonged to the age group of 51-70 years and Ischemic Heart Disease(45.9%) was found to have the highest prevalence.The average number of drugs per prescription was found to be 8.5±2.12. The most commonly prescribed class of drugs were Anti-platelets (16.85%), followed by Diuretics (11.39%), and amongst the NTI and HAM, the most commonly prescribed classes were Anticoagulants (33.52%) followed by Beta Blockers (24.48%) and Adrenergic Agonists (11.07%).In a total of 3020 drugs utilized, (194 unique)22.71% were from the list of cardiac specific NTI and HAM drugs, and an average of 10.33 drugs were prescribed per prescription.The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was found to be 10.13%,in injectable form was 28.04% and the percentage of drugs from the Essential drug List was found to be 33.50%. The average length of hospital stay among the NTI &HAM group is 8.5 ± 2.12 and 6.33 ± 0.01 for the non NTI &non HAM group.

CONCLUSIONS: Poly pharmacy, in addition to NTI and HAM, could exaggerate the study population for development of drug related problems which can be accredited to the increased Length of stay in hospital. Even though conclusive results cannot be drawn from this study because of the restrictions in study design, upgraded research studies are required to prove the aforementioned hypothesis.