Drug Utilization Evaluation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requires extensive treatment with multiple drug therapy.Due to its increasing prevalence and complications, it is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most serious health issues. It is necessary to treat the disease at the earliest with proper monitoring and evaluation of the therapy to prevent further progression and associated complications. Drug utilization evaluation is mainly used to understand the drug use pattern; use of irrational drugs; intervention to improve drug use andcontinuous quality improvement. Hence the present study was undertaken to understand the prescription pattern of patients diagnosed with COPD in a teaching hospital of South India.A total of 100 patients diagnosed with COPD was included in the study. The severity level of COPD was analysed using Modified Medical Research Council Questionnaire (mMRC) scale and the medications prescribed for treating were analyzed using GOLD treatment guidelines. Most of the patients were admitted with Grade-2 of modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale. Corticosteroids (22%) were the most prescribed class of drugs in which inhaled corticosteroids (budesonide and fluticasone) were preferred. The most prescribed combination therapy was salbutamol with ipratropium bromide. The majority of patients was treated with multiple drug therapy, in which combination of corticosteroids, β2 agonists, methylxanthines and anticholinergics along with antibiotics were used. Independent of socioeconomic status, poor health literacy is associated with greater COPD severity.