A descriptive study of knowledge of Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reactions among second professional undergraduate medical students in a teaching hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are adverse consequences of drug therapy being one of the leading causes of morbidity and represent a substantial burden of healthcare resources. Though Pharmacovigilance program was started in India in 1982, the awareness about it is much lower and underreporting of ADRs is a common problem with only 6-10% of all ADRs being reported. The objective of this study was to analyze the baseline knowledge of awareness regarding the ADRs and Pharmacovigilance activity in the undergraduate medical students who are future doctors of society so as to foster a culture of reporting ADRs, to fulfill various it is lacunaes and make adjustments of medical student’s curriculum in order to improve practice of reporting.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among second professional medical students in July 2015 to assess the knowledge of ADRs and Pharmacovigilance activities using a questionnaire to collect the information. Part “A” consisted of choosing the most appropriate answer and Part “B” included replying with “Yes” or “No.” Data were expressed as percentage proportions.Results: Out of the total of 150 enrolled students, 134 filled and returned the questionnaire with students having a mediocre knowledge about Pharmacovigilance and majority of them (94%) vouching that reporting of ADRs should be mandatory as it is going to benefit patients (99.2%).Conclusions: Our study revealed that there are gaps between knowledge regarding ADRs and Pharmacovigilance that needs to be addressed on priority basis for the success of the Pharmacovigilance program and better clinical management of patients in general.

Assessment of quality of life in patients on antiepileptic drugs: a hospital based cross sectional study

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is a broad, multidimensional concept that usually includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life. Very few studies have been carried out on QOLIE 31 in India and research in this area will identify factors affecting QOL. study was therefore conducted to determine the level of health related QOL of patients of epilepsy in a tertiary care teaching hospital. To evaluate patterns of the use of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and their impact on the Quality of Life (QOL) in patients with epilepsy.Methods: The study was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted by the Department of Pharmacology in association with the Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar. A total number of 134 patients, aged >18 years were studied for a period of one and a half years, January 2015-July 2016. QOLIE‑31 questionnaire was used for collecting data on health‑related QOL.Results: The mean overall QOLIE-31 score was 53 corresponding to a t-score of 44. Amongst the QOLIE-31 subscales, the highest mean score was the cognitive subscale (73.6) followed by medication effects (55.5) and social functions (52).Conclusions: It is evident from our study that there are many factors that influence QOL of people with epilepsy. Among them, type of drug therapy plays an important role. Adding clinical counselling and other interventions to address the physical, mental, psychological, social, and emotional aspects of health wellbeing is likely to achieve better health outcomes for epilepsy patients

An evaluation of pattern of adverse drug reactions reporting by undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are an important cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide and reporting ADRs voluntarily is fundamental to medical drug safety surveillance but gross underreporting of ADRs is a cause for a concern. Being key health care professional, physicians, pharmacists and nurses have immense responsibility in reporting of ADRs. Therefore, the sensitization and involvement of undergraduate medical students can reduce underreporting. This study is aimed at evaluating knowledge, attitude and reporting of quality of ADRs by undergraduate medical students.Methods: The study was conducted after sensitizing the second professional year undergraduate students about Pharmacovigilance as part of their internal assessment and asked them to submit reports of ADR observed during their clinical posting.Results: A total of 82 ADR’s were reported after sensitization with majority of them i.e. 30 related to skin and appendages disorder followed by gastrointestinal tract with antibiotics i.e. 28 and analgesics being most common probable/possible culprits.Conclusions: The response percentage of reporting ADRs was 54.66%. Medical students being future healthcare professionals should be exposed to ADR reporting during their clinical teaching posting as a part of sensitization and make them actively involved in reporting to improve detection rate and make Pharmacovigilance a success

A descriptive study on drug prescribing pattern in hypertensive patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Hypertension is highly prevalent and the goal of antihypertensive therapy is to abolish the risks associated with blood pressure (BP) elevation without adversely affecting quality of life. Drug selection is based on efficacy in lowering BP and in reducing cardiovascular (CV) end points including stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Not many studies are conducted in this part of world regarding drug utilization of antihypertensive drugs and hence this study was planned.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted for a period 6 month in outpatient department of a tertiary care centre of Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. The prescriptions containing antihypertensive drugs were collected from the patients attending the outpatient department.Results: During the study period a total of 230 prescriptions were collected, out of which 196 were included for the final analysis. Mean age was found to be 62.42±7.77 years. In majority of cases (44.89%), a combination of two drugs was prescribed and among the two-drug combination, Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) and Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs) were used most commonly (40.90%). Angiotension receptor blockers were used as single drug in most number of patients (41.66%). Proton pump inhibitors were the most common (35.71%) co-prescribed drug, followed by Anti platelet drugs (27.55%), Anti diabetics (16.32%) and Statins (16.32).Conclusions: Present study represents the current prescribing trend for antihypertensive agents. It implies that ARBs are the leading group of antihypertensive agents both when used singly and in combination. Further studies focused on the rationale for choice of drugs based on demographic data, economic status, associated comorbid conditions and complications would give additional insights into prescribing patterns in hypertension in India

Prescribing pattern in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care hospital of North India

Background: The neurosurgical disorders are amongst the leading cause of global mortality and morbidity. Though surgical intervention is thought to be the main management protocol in the neurosurgical setup but drugs are being equally used especially in the outpatient setting. The present study was carried out in view of the sparse data available on prescribing pattern in neurosurgery.Methods: The present study was conducted by the department of pharmacology in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care centre to look into the prescription pattern among these patients.Results: In 268 patients analyzed, mean age was 43.02±15.93 years and 52.23% were females. Majority of our participants (44%) were found to be of young to middle age group (21-40 years). The diagnosis among the study population was spread over large number of diseases. Lumbar Disc Prolapse (LDP) was found to be the leading cause of neurosurgical morbidity, amounting to 32%. As far as the prescription of various drugs in the outpatient of neurosurgery is concerned, Analgesics were the most common drugs prescribed constituting about 48% of the total drugs prescribed followed by GABA analogues and multivitamins which equally formed 41% of the total prescribed drugs.Conclusions: Although the prescription pattern studies among the outpatient neurosurgery patients are very scant, the analysis of prescription studies will be helpful to encourage the rational drug prescribing pattern

Nexus between Export Instability, and Exchange Rate Volatility and Economic Growth in Developing Countries

Export instability (EI) and exchange rate (ER) fluctuations affect economic growth. SAARC countries have observed more fluctuations in both macroeconomic variables than ASEAN countries. Therefore this study explores the influence of EI, and ER volatility on economic growth in selected SAARC and ASEAN countries for the time period 1995 to 2017. This study incorporates the EI and ER in the Augmented Solow growth model to see the effects on economic growth. To meet the objective of the study, System Generalized Methods of Moment (GMM) is used. The results indicate that variables of interest EI and ER have a negative and significant influence on GDP per capita for SAARC countries. While EI harms economic growth whereas exchange rate has a positive influence on economic growth in ASEAN countries. The control variables such as trade openness, secondary school enrollment, capital formation, and government spending have positively and significantly correlated with GDP per capita growth whereas inflation and population growth has negative and significantly correlated with GDP per capita growth in both groups of countries

Hematuria secondary to aeromonas infection in a kidney transplant recipient

Urinary tract infection is the most common bacterial infection occurring in renal transplant recipients and is associated with significant morbidity. The etiology and site of origin of hematuria in the transplant recipient is similar to that of the general population. Aeromonas species have been found to cause infection in immunocompromised hosts including patients of chronic kidney disease. To the best of our knowledge, there has not been any case report regarding the infection of Aeromonas in kidney transplant recipients

Resveratrol and Quercetin: Novel Polyphenolic Chemopreventive Agents

Cancer continues to be a major public health concern worldwide and the main modalities for treatment include chemo and/or radiotherapy and surgery which are often commonly used in conjuction to control and treat cancer. Recent advances in the area of cancer prevention have opened new avenues for research and several medicinal plants are being used to prevent and cure a variety of diseases, including oncological ailments. Herbal drugs have been in use for several thousands of years in various traditional systems of medicine existing in different parts of the world. In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in the way we look at herbals which today are being viewed as potential agents for tackling various diseases, particularly for which there is no effective cure available in modern system of medicine or when the side effects of synthetic drugs are too many. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that currently 80% of the world’s population is still dependent on herbal drugs for solving their health needs in one or the other way. They are less toxic alternatives to modern medicine, offer much scope for prevention of diseases, are easily available, cheaper costs, effective nature and promise to cure the so far incurable diseases like cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, diabetes makes them much sought for. Chemoprevention offers a promising approach to primary cancer prevention for a variety of organs. A plethora of compounds, including several promising plant derived compounds are being evaluated in the laboratories and two phytocompounds which hold a lot of promise include resveratrol and quercetin – as novel chemopreventive agents

Serum Copper in Anemic Patients

Background : To analyze serum copper in anemic patients.Method: In this descriptive study, serum samples of 136 anaemic patients were collected. Patients taking copper and zinc supplements, on parenteral nutrition, with acute blood loss, with malignant haematological disorders and children of less than 1 year of age were not included. Five ml of venous blood samples were collected in vacutainers, without anticoagulant.Serum was aliquoted into labelled appondrof tubes and stored in freezer at -80° C. Samples were transported to Chemical analysis facility division(CAFD) maintaining cold chain. Serum copper levels were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.Results: Out of 136, majority (80.88%) were female, with male to female ratio of 1:4.2. The age of the patients ranged from 1 to 79 years. Maximum patients were in 21-30 years age group. Copper deficiency was found in 17.64%, while 19.85% had raised levels. Microcytic anaemia was predominant. Majority (68.38%) had moderate anaemia. Most of the patients with decreased or increased copper levels fell into moderate anaemia . In addition to anaemia, 9.56% had bicytopenia and 5.14% had pancytopenia.Conclusion Both copper excess and deficiency were noted in this study. Though copper as cause of anemia may be rare, but it may have some contributory role in anaemia