December 2020 Vol. 8 No.12

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Original Research Article

Prescribing Pattern of Vitamins and Supplements in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Abbottabad

Muhammad Usman Nazir, Sikander Khan Tanoli, Rumeesa Khan, Sania Saeed, Adil Muhammad, Qazi Said Rahim

Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad

*Corresponding Authors Email: drabdul.haq15@gmail.com

Received: 04 December 2020  I  Accepted: 21 December 2020  I  Published: 24 December 2020  I  Article ID: MRJMMS-20-206
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

People have been using vitamins mainly to feel stronger, have more energy and for treating illnesses, thinking that whatever dietary recommendations could not be met by food alone should be supplemented for but the problem is not lack of beneficial effects altogether rather the inappropriate use of multivitamins in dosages and indications not supported by research studies, specifically in the developing countries. The aim of this study is to identify the pattern of prescription of multivitamin drugs in different departments in Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. And, the association between different chief complaints and the prescription of multivitamins. A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 203 cases were considered with 108 females and 95 males from both the OPDs and wards making up 109 and 94 cases, respectively. Of these, 86 patients were prescribed supplements for body aches and 68 were given due to fatigue. The maximum numbers of prescriptions of Vitamins were from Medicine ward i.e. 61, followed by 33 from Gynecology. The vast majority of patients were given multivitamins comprising 134 cases. In conclusion, the benefits of prescribing specific Vitamins in certain conditions are obvious. However, the use of multivitamins is not found to be beneficial in most part, in addition to putting financial burden on the patient and setting up an ethical dilemma for the doctor for prescribing drugs with no scientific evidence.

Keywords: Multivitamins, Supplements, Nutraceutics, Prescribing pattern