Prescription pattern in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a teaching tertiary care hospital

Objective: This study was conducted, with the aim to analyze the pattern of use of antirheumatic drugs in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi, India. Methodology: The study was carried out in 150 patients who were on treatment with antirheumatic drugs at least for the past 6 months. Patient demographic details, duration of illness, comorbid conditions, drugs prescribed, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and usage of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) were used to analyze the pattern of drug use. Results: In our study, we observed that in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most commonly prescribed disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) was methotrexate followed by hydroxychloroquine and sulfasalazine. DMARD combination with 3 drugs (59.3%) was the most common regimen followed by DMARD combination with 2 drugs (32.6%). Polypharmacy was seen in most of the prescriptions, but 76.3% of the drugs were from Essential Medicine List of Government of National Capital Territory, Delhi. About 40.7% of the prescriptions were prescribed by generic names. CAM was used by 13.3% of the study patients. Conclusion: The drug use pattern in RA was found to be DMARDs dependent. The concomitant use of three DMARDs was the preferred therapy. Biologics were not being used although indicated as per guidelines. ADRs associated with RA treatment were generally mild in severity and involved gastrointestinal tract.