Prescribing Pattern of Corticosteroids by Medical Specialists in West Azerbaijan, Iran

Inappropriate prescribing of drugs such as corticosteroids is known all over the world y especially in developing countries as a major health care system problem. There are few studies about the prescription pattern of corticosteroid across our country and this subject has not been studied in West Azerbaijan province. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pattern of prescribing corticosteroids among outpatients by specialist physicians in West Azerbaijan.

In this retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study, data were collected from two million prescriptions of ear, nose and throat (ENT), internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology,, pediatrics cardiology, neurology, infectious disease, orthopedic and urology specialists using prescription-processing software “NoskhehPardaz”(Rx Analyzer). Microsoft Excel software (2016) was applied to prepare the appropriate graphs.

Obstetrics and gynecology specialists, pediatrics and internists had the most percentage of prescriptions (23.65%,20.21% and 15.67% respectively). The ENT specialists, orthopedists and internists were more likely to prescribed corticosteroids than others. All, physicians with the exception of cardiologists and gynecologists, prescribed injectable corticosteroids more than other forms of this drug. The injectable corticosteroid was the highest and inhaled corticosteroid was the lowest prescribed drug.

The prescribing practices in this study are not satisfactory. Our data confirmed that ENT, orthopedic and internal medicine specialists are more likely to prescribe corticosteroids than others.. Injectable corticosteroids were the most commonly prescribed drug.