RESULTS: The average age (±SEM) of patients was 68.28±0.11 yrs. On an average, each patient had 2.01±0.01 diagnoses & was prescribed 6.45±0.04 drugs. The most common disorder was ‘Diseases of circulatory system”. The patients were prescribed an average of 6.45±0.04 medications. Over half of the patients (57.9%) received more than five medications concurrently. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was only 0.8%. Antibiotic usage was 13% while 7.3% of patients were prescribed injections. The percentage of drugs prescribed from National List of Essential Medicines 2003 was

CONCLUSIONS: The minimal prescription of antimicrobials and injections coupled with higher prescriptions from essential drug list is a very positive reflection of good prescribing among elderly outpatients.  Studies on the characterization of prescription among Indian elderly are limited in literature. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the prescription pattern specifically among Indian elderly patients using WHO prescribing indicators.