Prescription Practices of Antifungal Agents at Gynaecology and Oncology Departments of a Tertiary Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania: A Retrospective Study
Introduction: Irrational antifungals prescription results in inappropriate use of antifungals, leading to emergence of antifungal resistance. Aim: To determine the prescription patterns of antifungal agents in Gynaecology and Oncology Departments of the tertiary hospital in Tanzania. Materials...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/16786/55087_CE9AD)_F[SK]_PF1(AG_KM)_PFA(AG_KM)_PN(KM).pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Irrational antifungals prescription results in
inappropriate use of antifungals, leading to emergence of
antifungal resistance.
Aim: To determine the prescription patterns of antifungal agents
in Gynaecology and Oncology Departments of the tertiary
hospital in Tanzania.
Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective
hospital-based study involving files of patients who attended
Gynaecology and Oncology Department of Bugando Medical
Centre between January 2017 to December 2017. All files of
patients with fungal infections were analysed. The analysis of
the data was done from January 2018 to August 2018. Checklist
was used to collect information such as clinical diagnosis, age,
name of antifungal, number of antifungals, dosage form and
dose frequency. Descriptive analysis was done using STATA
version 13.0.
Results: A total of 1,070 files of patients who attended
Gynaecology and Oncology Departments in the year 2017 were
retrieved, of which 860 (80.4%) were from patients who attended
Gynaecology Department. A total of 156 (14.6%) files out of
1,070 were of patients with fungal infections. Of the patients
from gynaecology 116 (n=860, 13.48%) had fungal infection.
While of the patients from oncology 40 (n=210, 19.1%) had
fungal infection. The most common fungal infection diagnosed
were vaginal candidiasis 112 (96.6%) and oral candidiasis
33 (82.5%) from gynaecology and oncology department,
respectively. Common antifungal prescribed were azoles
(clotrimazole 56.9% in gynaecology and fluconazole 30% in
oncology). The prevalence of irrational antifungal prescription
in gynaecology and oncology departments was 22.4% (26/116)
and 20% (8/40), respectively.
Conclusion: About one in five antifungal prescriptions for
vaginal candidiasis in gynaecology and oral candidiasis in
oncology are irrational as evidenced in standard treatment
guideline. Clinicians should adhere to the national standard
treatment guidelines in order to reduce irrational prescriptions
of antifungal agents. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |