A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO ANALYSE PRESCRIBING PATTERNS AND TECHNIQUES OF SWITCHING OVER OF ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN VARIOUS PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

Patients with psychotic disorders often require long-term and intensive treatment. Several drug utilization studies have been carried out using WHO (World Health Organization) prescribing indicators, but these studies are deficient for psychiatry patients in India. To analyze antipsychotic prescriptions according to WHO core prescribing indicators and identify various techniques used for switching over from one antipsychotic to another, a cross-sectional, observational study was conducted with one year and six months duration. 128 patients were enrolled who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and gave written informed consent. This study revealed male (53.91%) predominance over female patients (46.09%). The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 4.56. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 48.79%, and 52.06% of drugs were prescribed from the essential drug list. Atypical antipsychotics (53.28%) were prescribed more than typical antipsychotics (46.71%). 56.25% of patients were treated with monotherapy, and 43.75% patients were treated with polytherapy. Switching over of antipsychotics was seen in 33 (25.78%) patients. The most commonly used technique for switching was immediate/abrupt switching (44.73%), followed by overlap switching (31.57%). This study concluded that polypharmacy needs to be carefully addressed, and practices like prescribing from essential medicines list and by generic name need to be encouraged.