Drug utilization study in ischaemic heart disease in a tertiary care hospital, Mangalore, India

Background: The study of drug utilization is a component of a medical audit and periodic evaluation need to be done to enable suitable modifications in prescription of drugs to increase the therapeutic benefit and decrease the adverse effects. When new drugs are used additional information on safety and efficacy may be generated. Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is a condition in which there is an inadequate supply of blood and oxygen to a portion of the myocardium. Medications for IHD include anti-platelet therapy, nitrates, statins, ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, CCB’s, diuretics.Methods: The study was carried out at cardiology department of K. S. Hegde Charitable Hospital for a period of one year from January 2015, and relevant retrospective data were also collected from hospital records for period pertaining to one year from 1/1/2013.Results: We assessed discharge summaries of 950 patients and found that majority of patients were males than females. The highest number of patients were in the age group of 51-60 years. Polypharmacy has been observed in our study. The average number of days spent by the patients in the hospital was 3.5 days. None of the drugs were prescribed using generic names, all the drugs (100%) were prescribed in brand names only. Common co-morbidities associated with IHD were hypertension and diabetes. Most commonly prescribed drugs for IHD were Aspirin, followed by Atorvastatin, Clopidogrel, and Nitrates.Conclusions: In our study, on analysing the drug prescription data it was observed that there was no statistically significant change in drug utilization between the two years

Amoxicillin induced toxic epidermal necrolysis: a case report

Adverse reactions are the recognized hazards of drug therapy and they can occur with any class of drugs and many studies revealed that the incidence is more in case of antibiotics. Amoxicillin is a broad spectrum, bactericidal, beta lactam antibiotic, commonly used to combat various infections. Penicillin group of drugs are known to cause cutaneous drug eruptions especially in paediatric population. Most of the time, these eruptions are mild in nature, however, sometimes they represent the early manifestation of rare, severe drug-induced cutaneous reactions, such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare, life threatening dermatological disorder that is usually induced by medications. Seventy percent of the cases of TEN are drug induced, most commonly implicated drugs being anticonvulsants, antibiotics and non-steroidalanti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Here, we report a case of toxic epidermal necrolysis induced by amoxicillin in a 12 year old male patient. Treatment with strong antibiotics, immunosuppressant and other supportive measures helped in recovery of the patient. The case is being reported to emphasize the need for efficient pharmacovigilance in order to motivate adverse drug reaction reporting so as to gather more and more data regarding adverse drug reactions. Through this report, we also seek the support of every-one concerned, to detect and, if possible, prevent adverse reactions to drugs

Amoxicillin induced toxic epidermal necrolysis: a case report

Adverse reactions are the recognized hazards of drug therapy and they can occur with any class of drugs and many studies revealed that the incidence is more in case of antibiotics. Amoxicillin is a broad spectrum, bactericidal, beta lactam antibiotic, commonly used to combat various infections. Penicillin group of drugs are known to cause cutaneous drug eruptions especially in paediatric population. Most of the time, these eruptions are mild in nature, however, sometimes they represent the early manifestation of rare, severe drug-induced cutaneous reactions, such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare, life threatening dermatological disorder that is usually induced by medications. Seventy percent of the cases of TEN are drug induced, most commonly implicated drugs being anticonvulsants, antibiotics and non-steroidalanti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Here, we report a case of toxic epidermal necrolysis induced by amoxicillin in a 12 year old male patient. Treatment with strong antibiotics, immunosuppressant and other supportive measures helped in recovery of the patient. The case is being reported to emphasize the need for efficient pharmacovigilance in order to motivate adverse drug reaction reporting so as to gather more and more data regarding adverse drug reactions. Through this report, we also seek the support of every-one concerned, to detect and, if possible, prevent adverse reactions to drugs