Drug utilization study on pediatric pneumonia patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Pneumonia remains the prime infectious disease that increases the mortality rate among children under five claimed the lives of nearly 1.5 million children in 2015. Mortality due to childhood pneumonia is linked to the prevalence and relapse increases and usage of antibiotics is more. In such circumstances, the main. Aim: The Aim of the study was to assess the utilization of drugs and to spot the factors that contribute to the pediatric pneumonia patients at tertiary care teaching hospitals. Material and methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted from May 2021 to October 2021Overall 310 prescriptions were collected, 204 patients were included in the study based on inclusion criteria and data was collected from a proforma and by using WHO prescribing indicators study is analyzed. Results: Age group with pneumonia of 10 drugs i.e., (1%). The distribution of antibiotics where majorly preferred drug in penicillin’s were amoxiclav- 164(59.20%), least preferred was piperacillin/tazobactam-9(3.28%), followed by cefotaxime-38(13.71%), ceftriaxone -17(6.13%), amikacin- 31(11.19%),  and azithromycin- 18(6.49%). Conclusion: In our study, we observed an irrational use of antibiotics and polypharmacy of drugs in the treatment of pediatric pneumonia.