Retrospective study of drug utilization patterns on anti-asthmatics drugs in outpatient department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR), Klang

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease and it is one of the very common diseases in Malaysia. A wide range of different classes of anti-asthmatic drugs including bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs is now available for the treatment of asthma. Retrospective drug utilization study was done by analyzing the prescriptions from Outpatient Pharmacy Department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR). This was done to evaluate the drugs used pattern and identify whether the medications follow the recommended guideline or not. A total number of 276 prescriptions were collected for analysis which passed the inclusion and exclusion criteria. From the data analysis, 157 (56.9%) were male and 119 (43.1%) were female and there was highest prevalence rate of taking anti-asthmatic drugs among patient age more than 60 years old. Malay race was the highest (40.5%) followed by Indian (36%), Chinese (18.5%) and others (5%). For monotherapy, the most common anti-asthmatic drug was Salbutamol 142 (51.4%), followed by Budesonide 62 (22.5%). For overall classification of drugs, β2 agonist (SABA) was the most commonly used drugs followed by corticosteroids. For combination therapy, Symbicort® 50 (18.1%) was the commonly prescribed by the physician, followed by Berodual® 35 (127%) and Seretide® 27 (9.8%). The overall drug utilization of combination therapy revealed more combination Long-acting β2-agonist (LABA)/Corticosteroid 77 (38.7%) anti-asthmatic drugs being distributed to patients rather than the combination of Short-acting β2 agonist (SABA)/Short-acting Anticholinergic (SAAC) 42 (21.1%).