Premium
Psychotropic drug prescription in Nigeria
Author(s) -
Famuyiwa O. O.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1983.tb06984.x
Subject(s) - polypharmacy , medical prescription , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychiatry , medicine , depression (economics) , drug , psychotropic drug , psychotropic agent , pharmacology , economics , macroeconomics
– – A study of prescribing practice in three psychiatric institutions in Nigeria revealed high frequency of polypharmacy, liberal routine use of antiparkinsonian agents and daily multiple administration of drugs. In the treatment of depression and schizophrenia older and better known oral neuroleptics were preferred to newer ones, but there was apparent tendency for depressives to be under‐treated and long‐acting depot preparations were seldom administered to schizophrenics. Several aspects of drug use were similar to those observed elsewhere, particularly in the Anglo‐American practice – an observation presumed explicable in terms of common psychiatry training background. The need for clinicians to comply with accept‐able pharmacokinetic principles of drug treatment is stressed.