ASSESSMENT OF FIXED DOSE COMBINATIONS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Fixed-dose combinations are defined as a combination of two or more active ingredients in a fixed ratio of doses. Recently fixed-dose combinations are more rapidly marketed; the available combinations in the market include both rational and irrational. The use of irrational fixed-dose combinations has resulted in severe adverse drug reactions and a reduction in patient quality of life. The main objective of this study was to assess the prescribing patterns and rationality of fixed-dose combinations in a tertiary care teaching hospital. A prospective and observational study was conducted in 249 inpatients after taking written consent from those who meet study criteria in the Medicine and Pediatric department for a period of 6 months. In this study, the combinations of drugs were equally distributed to both females and males patients (50%), most patients were in the age group of 70-79 (20%). A total of 355 combinations of drugs were used belonging to 48 different combinations. The most commonly prescribed combinations were Aspirin + Atorvastatin (13%) and Tramadol + Acetaminophen (12%). Out of which, 3 drug combinations were found to be banned accordingly to CDSCO Guidelines and WHO essential list of medicines. The rationality was assessed using 7 point criteria with a maximum scoring of 14.7 FDCs scored 0-8, 10 scored 9 to 11 and 31 scored 12 to 14. This result indicated that the majority of fixed-dose combinations used were rational.