Prescription Patterns of Hypolipidaemic Drugs in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Southern India

Objective: To evaluate the prescribing patterns of hypolipidaemic drugs which were prescribed to patients who visited the department of General Medicine in a tertiary care teaching hospital of southern India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done for three months in the department of General Medicine. A total of 506 prescriptions of hypolipidaemic drugs were evaluated, based on the various inclusion and exclusion criteria. The different disease patterns, the types of drugs which were prescribed in those diseases and the WHO prescription indicators, Anatomical Therapeutic Classification as well as the PDD (prescribing daily dose) /DDD (daily defined dose) ratio were calculated. Results: While analyzing the prescriptions, it was found that patients having abnormal lipid profiles (56.9%) and normal lipid profiles (43.1%) were prescribed hypolipidaemic drugs. Diabetes with hypertension (37%) was the most common disease for which hypolipidaemic drugs were prescribed. The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.3 +/- 1.33. Atorvastatin was the most common hypolipidaemic drug which was prescribed as monotherapy (53.4%), whereas atorvastatin with aspirin was the most common drug which was prescribed as combination therapy (20%). Atorvastatin was prescribed as underdosed and Rosuvastatin was prescribed as overdosed. Conclusion: This study depicts the use of statins in various disease conditions, both as primary and secondary preventive measures. Such studies should be done to educate the physicians on good prescribing practices and on rational use of hypolipidaemic drugs.