Drug utilization study of antiepileptic drugs in the pediatric department in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Epilepsy is basically any disorder characterised by uncontrolled excessive and synchronous electrical discharges in various brain areas resulting in spontaneously recurrent seizures which typically last from seconds to minutes. For the rationale drug use and to suggest measures to change prescribing habits for the better management of epileptic seizures it is very necessary to know the prescription pattern of these drugs. This study aims to study the utilisation pattern of antiepileptic drugs in paediatric patients in a tertiary care hospital.
Methods: The present retrospective observational study was conducted at Daya Hospital, Thrissur. Ninety six Paediatric patients of either gender diagnosed to had epilepsy and taking treatment from Daya Hospital were included in the study. Patient’s detailed medical history, demographic details and other required information was recorded.
Results: The study showed that out of 96 patients typical febrile seizure (73%) was found to be the most common form of seizure among paediatric patients of age group 1- 5 years of age. Clobazam was the most commonly prescribed (71%) AED followed by midazolam (69%). 27% patients were prescribed monotherapy. Clobazam + Midazolam was the most commonly (31%) used combination.
Conclusion: From this study it was found that majority of prescription was without a generic name. It was concluded that Clobazam was the highly prescribed drug followed by Midazolam. There was no any serious drug drug interactions. There is a need for further up-to-date studies to determine the drug utilisation pattern of paediatric patients.