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The Pattern of Antibiotic Use in a Family
Medicine Department of a Tertiary Hospital
in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria
566-569
Correspondence
Abdulgafar O. Jimoh
Mailing address: P.O.Box, 2005,
Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria.
E-mail: layidotcom@yahoo.com
Phone: +234 (0)8035950558
Background: Antibiotics are substances or compounds which are used to treat infections which are caused by microorganisms including fungi and protozoa. The inappropriate and indiscriminate use of antimicrobial agents can potentially cause a number of problems. The emergence of anti- microbial resistant bacteria, an increased number of patients experiencing adverse drug events and an increase in drug-related costs have been documented.
Objective: This research was conducted with the objective of studying the pattern of antibiotic prescription in a tertiary hospital’s general out patients department.
Methods: A cross sectional, retrospective study was carried out in the Family Medicine Department, at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria, from January to June 2008. The records of all the patients who had any courses of antimicrobial agents within this period were isolated and screened and relevant data were extracted by using a prepiloted data collection form and the filled forms were analyzed.
Results: A total of 336 patients, consisting of 146 males (43.45%) and 190 females (56.54%) were enrolled. Among these, 139(41.36%) were in the age group of 21–30 years and 134 (39.88%) had gastro intestinal infections as an indication of antibiotic use. 69 (20.53%) had requested for investigations. The investigations were relevant in 66 (95.65%) and in 57 (82.60%), the samples were taken before the commencement of the antibiotic therapy. Only 27 (39.13%) had got their results before the antibiotic prescription, while 42 (60.86%) had antibiotics prescribed for them without their laboratory results. Among the various antibiotics which were prescribed, 149 (35.83%) were quinolones and 109 (26.29%) were pencillins. The antibiotic combination pattern showed that 56 (44.44%) were given a combination of amoxicillin and metronidazole and that 27 (21.47%) were given a combination of amoxicillin, metronidazole and doxycycline.
Conclusions: Only about one fifth of the patients who were studied had any form of laboratory investigations as a guide for the antibiotic prescription and out of these, only less than half of the results were used as a guide for the antibiotic prescription. The commonest indications for antibiotic use in this study included gastro intestinal infections, genitor-urinary infections, and respiratory tract infections. Quinolones (Ciprofloxacin) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in this study.