Pattern of Antibiotic Prescription in Private Clinics in Baquba City in Iraq

Abstract

Antibiotics are one of the most common drugs that are widely used globally. Irrational use of antibiotics is the main cause of the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms. Rational use of antibiotics is important to prevent antibiotic resistance and to preserve the efficacy acy of existing antibiotics. It was estimated that there is a high rate of antibiotics ntibioc prescription worldwide. The main threat in the treatment of infectious diseases is the irrational use of antibiotics, so it is important to use current antibiotics properly to ensure the long-term availability of effective treatment for all infectious diseases. All physicians should be careful about combination therapy, which causes antibiotic resistance. In addition to the awareness of adverse drug reactions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pattern of antibiotic prescription in private clinics in Baquba city. This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Baquba city and a review of prescription papers in private clinics, which was done for the period from 15/2 to 3/3/ 2023. Data was collected by a special design questionnaire that included sex, age, diagnosis, doctor's specialty, type of antibiotic administration, number of antibiotics, duration, and history of previous antibiotic prescription. Results were expressed as numbers and percentages. The totalnumber of prescriptions was 270. The number of female patients was   63.3% while male patients was 36.7%.  The range of age groups involved in the study was 16-35 years old. Oral dosage form of antibiotic prescription was 55 5.9% while parenteral dosage form was 30.4%. The duration of use of antibiotics from 3 to 5 days was 54.4%, while from 6 to 10 days was 32.2%. The severity of clinical indications of antibiotics was 51.8% as moderate, 37.8% as mild, and 10.4% as mild. Most of the prescriptions was related to surgical cases as percent 51.8%, while others related to gynecological cases as percent 31.5%. Monotherapy antibiotic was the most commonly prescribed 74.8% while a combination of two antibiotics was 24.1%. Cephalosporin was the most commonly group which prescribed as 28.9%, followed by amoxicillin 16.7%