Prescribing pattern of oral hypoglycemic agents in type II diabetics / Norhaida Mohd Suble and Nurul Afifah Muhamad Nazri

Study objective: To obtain information regarding the prescribing pattern of oral hypoglycemic agents in type II diabetes mellitus patients.
Design: Retrospective study by using pre-designed data collection form that include the patients’ demographic profile, medical background of patients and drug profile of patients.
Study period: From September 2008 to December 2008.
Setting: Outpatient Pharmacy Department, Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim.
Study Sample: 200 diabetic patients from medical outpatient department, Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim.
Inclusion criteria: Patients with type II diabetes mellitus only or accompany with other disease, prescription prescribed with oral hypoglycemic agents, and data collection must 3 main races only there are; Malay, Chinese and Indian.
Exclusion criteria: Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Methodology: There are several classes of oral hypoglycemic agents available for the management of type II diabetes mellitus. The treatment regimen is usually started with a single use of oral anti-diabetic agent follow by the addition of second agent from a different class if the single agent alone to given at maximum therapeutic dose does not give a satisfactory glycaemic control. In this study, samples were collected initially from medical outpatient department according to patient’s prescriptions. The samples were then selected in accordance to the inclusion and exclusion criteria set.