A study of prescribing pattern, comorbidities, and cost analysis in elderly hospitalized patients in Pune

Abstract

Aim: To study prescribing pattern, comorbidities, and cost analysis in elderly hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted to assess the prescribing pattern, drug utilization, and cost analysis in elderly patients at a tertiary care hospital in Pune. Data of 120 patients were used to carry out the analysis. Result: A total of 120 elderly inpatients were included in the study. Of these 120 patients, 62 were male and 58 were female; among them, maximum number of patients belong to 60-74 years age group. Common comorbidities found were anemia, lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), urinary tract infection, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, etc. Mostly hospitalized patients were hypertensive (27.5%), diabetic (18.33%), and anemic (15.83%) followed by respiratory tract infections such as pulmonary Koch′s, pneumonia, and LRTI. Two comorbid conditions were found in 33.33% of patients followed by 25% with one comorbid condition and 24.16% had three comorbid conditions; on an average, three comorbidities were found in a total number of patients. Major classes of drugs prescribed for treatment were cardiovascular drugs (22.60%), antibiotic (20.13%), antiplatelet (7.26%), and antidiabetic drugs (6.43%). The average cost per patient was calculated 5016.48 international normalized ratio, which includes physician, nursing, bed charges, and therapy cost. Conclusion: This study concludes that the prescribing pattern of elderly patients with age group 60-74 years were commonly prescribed for cardiovascular drugs and antibiotic, whereas this proportion was low compared to patients with age >74 years and prescribing pattern also resulted in financial burden on patients healthcare cost.

Keywords

• Comorbidity
• elderly
• prescribing pattern