Incidence of Polypharmacy among emergency patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi: An Ignored Paradigm for Quality Drug Therapy

Introduction: A prescription containing five or more drugs is likely to result in adverse consequences that may involve hospital admission or falls. Increasing incidence of Polypharmacy among Emergency patients calls for a more judiciary and cautious approach to prescribing with a focus on long term as well as short term health.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of polypharmacy and its strength of association with respect to medication regimen among patients (pediatric and adults) visiting ED of a tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan.

Methods: Data will be collected retrospectively of all patients, who visited the Emergency Department (ED) of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi (AKUH) during January, 2012 to December, 2012. The detailed clinical records on medication prescribing from admission through discharge of all patients will be reviewed.

Results: Total 51,000 patients visited ED during January 2012 till December 2012, out of those polypharmacy was common in 40% of patients. Male were 56.6%(9,837) while  43.4% (7,553) were females. Peadiatric patients were 17.9% (3,145) while 79% (14,279) were adults. The most common triage category for patients with was P3 with 37.2% (6,483). Most of these patients were those who were recommended admission in other wards 59.6% (10,146), 26.5% (4,514) discharged patients and 9% (1,536) LAMA patients.

Conclusion: The perils and problems associated with Poly pharmacy are a subject of interest as polypharmacy was significant finding among all ED patients