Disease and Prescription Pattern for Outpatients with NeurologicalDisorders in Bangladesh: An Empirical Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: To study the prevalence and prescription pattern for outpatients with neurological disorders in Bangladesh. Methods: The study was conducted on 1684 patients in six hospitals of Dhaka city from March 2014 to June 2015. Data were collected through a predesigned questionnaire from the patients that contain information about sex, age, marital status, occupation, residential status, affected disease, self-medicated drugs and prescribed drugs. Results: Out of 1684 patients, male 963 (57.19%) predominance. The study revealed that headache and migraine 50 (29.75%), stroke 403 (23.93%) and seizure 119 (7.07%) were more projecting neurological disorders. Genetic reason for the neurological disorders was found among only 208 (12.35%) patients. Among 812 patients follow up was reported for 575 (70.82%) patients in which physician follow up was 441 (54.31%) and non-physician follow up was 134 (16.51%) patients. Maximum self-medication usage was found for the period of 3 to 6 months for 247 (41.79%) patients. Disease recovery was satisfactory with the self-medication for 223 (37.73%) patients and 38 (6.43%) patients reported side effects. Most extensively prescribed medicines were multivitamins and multi-minerals 675 (40.08%), NSAIDs and other analgesic 560 (33.25%), antiulcerant 476 (28.27%), anticoagulants 438 (26%), antihyperlipidemic 387 (22.98%) and antiepileptic 305 (18.11%) drugs respectively. The crucial reasons for the selection of prescribed medicines were the confidence with physician’s prescribed drug 690 (40.97%) and knowledge of the drugs 590 (23.99%). The period of prescribed medicines usage was 1 to 3 months for 669 (39.73%) patients and 3 to 6 months for 491 (29.16%) patients. The patient’s compliance for prescribed medicines was satisfactory for 582 (34.56%) patients, good for 474 (28.15%) patients and side effect was reported for 391 (23.22%) patients. Conclusion: In Bangladesh neurological diseases are not surprising rather than other different diseases prevail in different age and sex. Headache and migraine, stroke and seizure are most frequently encountered neurological disorders here. Treatment procedure of these disorders is not quite suitable due to the anomalies of healthcare management system. Appropriate management of the healthcare system can overcome the existing inconsistencies as well as increase the knowledge, awareness and perception of the patients about health and disorders.