PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF ANTI-ALLERGIC DRUGS IN PEDIATRIC CLINICS

Sharmily  Chakraborty; Tapan Kumar  Chatterjee; Jayati  Sengupta

doi:10.22270/ijmspr.v1i4.10

Authors

Sharmily Chakraborty Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India
Tapan Kumar Chatterjee Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India
Jayati Sengupta Departments of Pediatrics and Neonatology, AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22270/ijmspr.v1i4.10

Keywords:

Kolkata, Pediatric population, Anti-allergic, H1 Antihistamines

Abstract

Growing industrialization and fast changing biodiversity coupled with sedentary lifestyles are causing a surge in allergic diseases like allergic rhinitis, asthma, conjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis, especially among pediatric population in the country, the World Allergy Organization (WAO) has warned. Variety of drugs like H1 Antihistamines, corticosteroids, leukotriene antagonists and several other drugs are being prescribed as anti-allergic drugs to treat those allergic symptoms of children in India. A prospective observational study including only outpatients was carried out in different units of AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata and data of 514 patients were collected and analyzed. 53.1% were male patients 46.9% were female patients. The mean age of the patients was 3.63±3.19 years with range 0.02 - 14 years and the median age was 2.7 years. Total 662 numbers of drugs were prescribed among the study population out of which 42.4% was mostly prescribed H1 Antihistamines and it was prescribed mostly for the age group 1-5 years. Fexofenadine (43.1%) was commonly prescribed H1 Antihistamines. It was observed that different combinations of anti-allergic drugs were prescribed in which H1 Antihistamines based regimen were prescribed in most cases and H1 Antihistamines+Decongestant was commonest drug therapy. Prescriptions with H1 Antihistamines were made mostly for upper respiratory allergic symptoms. Leukotriene antagonists were used for longer duration in most patients. Mostly H1 Antihistamines had been widely prescribed as anti-allergic drug either as single or in combination for pediatric study population attending pediatric outpatient clinics and in certain cases H1 antihistaminic drugs had often overused in combinations.

Author Biographies

Sharmily Chakraborty, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India

Tapan Kumar Chatterjee, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, India

Jayati Sengupta, Departments of Pediatrics and Neonatology, AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, India

Departments of Pediatrics and Neonatology, AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, India

References

Cates E C, Gajewska B U, Goncharova S, Alvarez D, Fattouh R, Coyle A J (2003), “Effect of GM-CSF on immune, inflammatory, and clinical responses to ragweed in a novel mouse model of mucosal sensitization”, J Allergy Clin Immunol., Vol. 111, No. 5, pp. 1076-86.

“Effect of cobalamin on the allergic response in mice”. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., Vol. 64, No. 10, pp. 2053–8.

Garje Y A, Suman R K, Kumar R, Deshmukh Y A and Patra V, “Prescribing patterns and pharmacoeconomic analysis of drugs used in pediatric asthma patients at tertiary care hospital”, World Journal of Pharmacy And Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 3, Issue 6, pp. 1448-1465.

Haberal I and Corey J P (2003), “The role of leukotrienes in nasal allergy”, Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg., Vol. 129, No. 3, pp. 274- 279.

Holt P G and Sly P D (2007), “Th2 Cytokines in the asthma late-phase response”, Lancer, Vol. 370, No. 9596, pp. 1396-1398.

Iwasaki M, Saito K, Takemura M, Sekikawa K, Fujii H and Yamada Y (2003), “TNF-alpha contributes to the development of allergic rhinitis in mice”, J Allergy Clin Immunol., Jul, Vol. 112, No. 1, pp. 134-140.

Janeway Charles, Travers P, Walport M and Shlomchik M (2001), Immunobiology, Fifth Edition, New York and London: Garland Science. pp. e book.

Kumar R, Singhal P, Jain A, Raj Neelima (2008), “Prevalence of bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis in school girls in Delhi”. Indian J Allergy Asthma Immunol, Vol. 22, pp. 99-104.

Morais-Almeida M and Cabral A J (2014), “Off-label prescribing for allergic diseases in pre-school children”, AllergolImmunopathol (Madr)., Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 342-347.

Pal R, Dahal S and Pal S (2009), “Prevalence of bronchial asthma in Indian children”, Indian J Commun Med., Vol. 34, pp. 310-316.

Salib R J, Kumar S, Wilson S J and Howarth P H (2004), “Nasal mucosal immuno expression of the mast cell chemo attractants TGF-beta, eotaxin, and stem cell factor and their receptors in allergic rhinitis”, J Allergy Clin Immunol., Vol. 114, No. 4, pp. 799-806.

Walls A F, He S, Buckley M G and McEuen A R (2001), “Roles of the mast cell and basophil in asthma”, Clin Exp Allergy, Vol. 1, p. 68