The Trend of Prescribing Ceftriaxone Injection in the Medical Prescriptions of the Social Security Organization-insured Persons in Kerman during 2006- 2012
Background: Rational drug usage is a main priority in health research, and controlling prescribing Ceftriaxone injection due to its fatal adverse effects is a crucial challenge in Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the trend of prescribing Ceftriaxone injections in the medical prescriptions of the Social Security Organization-insured persons in Kerman during 2006- 2012.
Methods: In this Cross-sectional study, using descriptive data mining all data about prescribing the three types of Ceftriaxone injection that were prescribed by the physicians and dentists and dispensed in Kerman pharmacies during 78 months (December 22, 2005 to June 20, 2012), obtained from The Comprehensive Medical Documentation System, in the Medical Documents Audit Office of Social Security Organization in Kerman was extracted by census sampling. Then, the prescribing rate of Ceftriaxone injection (defined daily dose) was analyzed and compared in different groups.
Results: About 17 million prescriptions from 3621 physicians and dentists (aged 28-91 years) with male/female ratio as 1.7 were analyzed. About 300 thousands of prescriptions (1.75%) contained Ceftriaxone. The average number of monthly prescriptions; count of monthly prescriptions with the drug; and the ratio of prescribing Ceftriaxone in all prescriptions were significantly different between general practitioners and specialists/sub-specialists (P<0.001). The trend of Ceftriaxone prescribing has slightly decreased during 6.5 years.
Conclusion: The studies on drug prescribing in Iran show the inappropriate patterns of drug prescribing and use, and also low adherence to the prescribed medications; therefore, serious interventions should be performed by the responsible organizations to control this challeng
