Prevalence of antimicrobial chemotherapy in hospitalized patients in the department of internal medicine in a tertiary care center.

Use of antimicrobial agents (AMAs) is associated with significant reduction in morbidity and mortality. However, indiscriminate and injudicious use of AMAs leads to the ineffective treatment, increased adverse effects, exacerbation or prolongation of illness, emergence of bacterial resistance and an additional burden of an expensive medical cost to the patients. So controlled use of AMAs at right dose, right interval and right duration is of utmost importance. In this retrospective study, prevalence and prescription patterns, and cost of the prescribed AMAs in the hospitalized patients in the department of internal medicine in a tertiary care center were analyzed. A total of 428 hospitalized patients were included in the study. Out of 428 patients, 274 (64.0%, P < 0.01) patients received AMAs for therapeutic (66.4%) and prophylactic (24.1%) purposes. In 9.5% patients AMA prescription was inappropriate. Use of intravenous route was significantly higher (55.48, P < 0.01) than the oral route. COPD with acute exacerbation was most frequent condition for AMA prescription. Majority (90.42%) of AMA prescriptions were based on empirical basis. Mean number of AMA per patient was 2.12 (minimum 1 and maximum 8). Most frequently prescribed AMA was Ceftriaxone (30.2%) from cephalosporin group (33.9%, P < 0.05). Patients received AMAs for the duration of 1-31 days and total cost of single AMA dosage regimen was as high as $ 482.3. As most of the hospitalized patients were prescribed AMA empirically, strategic AMA prescription guidelines and AMA prescription monitoring systems are extremely necessary in the hospitals to prevent emergence of microbial resistance and to expedite the cost effectiveness of medical treatment.