Background: The expanding and challenging eld of psychopharmacology is constantly seeking new
and improved drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. Psychotropic drugs utilization in actual clinical
practice, effectiveness and safety in the real-life situation needs continuous study. Therefore, the study was undertaken to
analyze the prescription pattern of psychotropic drugs.
Methods: A Cross sectional study was conducted in the psychiatry out-patient department of a tertiary care hospital for 4
months. Diagnosis was made according to ICD-10 criteria. Prescription pattern was analyzed using World Health Organization
(WHO) drug indicators.
Results: Psychotropic drugs constituted 74.85% of the prescribed medication. Average number of the psychotropic drugs per
prescription was 2.53. Percentage of prescriptions with injectable drugs accounted for 5.13%. 59.28% of the drugs were
prescribed by generic names, while the rest were branded. 28% of prescriptions contained psychotropic FDCs (Fixed dose
th combination). 78.65% of the drugs were from the WHO's 18 List of Essential Medicines. Among the total psychotropic drugs
prescribed, antipsychotics (43.87%) were the most commonly prescribed class of drugs followed by antidepressants (23.32%),
anxiolytics (22.13%) and the mood stabilizers (9.88%) were the least.
Conclusions: Prescription pattern of the psychotropic drugs were in accordance to the recommendations of various treatment
guidelines. Antipsychotics were the most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs.
Prescription pattern in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a teaching tertiary care hospital
