Pediatric Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. Prescribing Pattern and Health Economics

It is necessary to ascertain current prescribing of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) to address potential overuse. Hence, the objective of this study is to analyse the current prescription patterns and the economics of drugs used in the treatment of URTI. For this, a prospective observational study was carried out in the out-patient department of paediatrics. Children of 1 month to 18 years, diagnosed with URTI by the physician, were included in the study. The demographic details, drugs prescribed, dose, duration of therapy, cost of drug therapy were all noted from the out-patient record. The cost of individual drugs was analysed and the health economic analysis of drugs was performed.