Drug use and prescription pattern at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (UDUVTH), Sokoto; A ten-year retrospective study (2006-2015)

A ten year (2006 – 2015) retrospective study was conducted using records from the case files of patients handled at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (UDUVTH) in order to ascertain the pattern and problems associated with drug prescriptions in the management of diseases presented to the hospital. The results obtained show that, a total number of 622 patients comprising cattle (4.80%), goats (16.9%), sheep (33%), birds (11.3%), horses (1.1%), dogs (28.6%), cats (2.9%), rabbits (0.8%) and others (0.3%) were presented. Of the total number of 622, 537 (86.2%) received various medicaments ranging from antibacterial drugs (39.1%), anthelmintics (18.1%), acaricides (4.4%), haemoparasiticides (1.3%), antidiarrhoic (2.5%) and analgesic (4.3%). Other drugs dispensed were dietary supplements/vitamins (17.7%), fluids/electrolytes (2,5%), anticoccidialsm (3.7%) and unspecific agents (5.8%) in retrospective study of drug use and prescription pattern at the UDUVTH, Sokoto. 20% of the drugs were given by oral route of administration while parenteral and topical routes constitute 74.2 and 10.3%, respectively. The route of administration of 4% of the medications was not specified. Multiple drug therapy overwhelmed the practice with 80.41% while inappropriate prescription and drug combination was 1.03% of all the drugs used over the study period. The study revealed that antibacterials and anthelmintics are the most widely used drugs and parenteral route of drug administration and polytherapy were the dominant practice in the hospital. Key words: Retrospective study, prescription pattern, UDUVTH, Sokoto, North-western Nigeria.