Volume 29, Issue 156, February 2025

The study of prescription patterns in pediatric outpatients for the management of fever

Sara Shahid¹, Huma Anwar², Ammara Shoaib³, Aiman Aslam³, Moniba Shabbir³, Hina³, Muhammad Zahid Iqbal^1♦

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
²Cancer Care Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan
³Research Student, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

^♦Corresponding Author
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The therapeutic efficacy of certain antibiotics might be significantly impacted by incorrect usage. The study's goals were to ascertain the trend of antibiotic prescriptions and examine the justification for their usage in pediatrics diagnosed with fever in outpatient department. Method: The goal of the current observational study was to assess the prescription pattern for fever in children. A total of 117 prescriptions were gathered from the outpatient department of various private and public hospitals. The information extracted from the prescriptions included information on the patient's gender, weight, age, diagnosis and prescribed medications. Results: Of the 117 pediatric patients with fever, 60.7% were male and 39.3% were female. Majority of the study subjects (25.6%) belonged to the 2-5 years of age. The presenting complain of majority of the patients was cough with fever i.e., 30.8% patients. While mostly patients (57.3%) were prescribed antibiotics along with NSAIDs (Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs). Cephalosporins accounted for the largest percentage of antibiotic prescriptions (34.2%). Conclusion: The majority of the pediatrics are getting cephalosporin antibiotics for management of fever. Comparatively fewer medications were prescribed in generic form, with the majority coming from the Essential Drug List. Our research recommends that methods to curb the excessive use of antibiotics be put into place and that the protocols for treating pediatric patients be updated on a regular basis.

Keywords: Pediatric; Fever; Antibiotics; Prescription patterns; Cephalosporins; NSAIDs, Essential drug list.

Medical Science, 2025, 29, e25ms3507

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v29i156.e25ms3507

Published: 01 February 2025