The increasing number of people diagnosed with diseases like diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia suggests that it is necessary to study and understand the profile of oral antidiabetics and insulin use. Reviewing prescribing patterns assists in analyzing early signals of irrational drug use and promotes interventions for optimal usage of drugs. To analyze the current prescription patterns of drugs used in the treatment of type 2 DM patients. A cross-sectional observational descriptive study was done in 201consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus enrolled in diabetic clinic of a tertiary care center and data was collected from the diabetic clinic records. In the study majority of the patients (148, 74%) had HbA1C ≥ 7 and only 53 patients (33%) had HbA1C <7. In the prescriptions analyzed, 69(34%) were on monotherapy of which 35 were on metformin, 15 on sulfonyl ureas and one on DPP4I respectively. The most common oral combination-therapies were metformin and sulphonyl ureas (65). It was observed that 17 (8.4%) patients were only on insulin and 44(21%) patients were on combination of insulin and oral hypoglycemics. In patients with comorbidities like hypertension (113, 55%), 59 (52%) were on monotherapy, most commonly prescribed drug was ARB’s (28, 47%) and 29(26%) on dual therapy and ARB’s and diuretic combination (14, 48%) was most commonly prescribed. In patients with dyslipidemia (132, 65%), 55 (42%) were on monotherapy and 10(8%) on dual therapy, atorvastatin (39, 71%) was the most commonly prescribed drug among the statins. Antiplatelets were prescribed for 21(10%) patients as primary prevention for cardiovascular disease. The study results revealed inspite of well established guidelines for the management of diabetes, they are not being followed. It was observed that the reasons for the deviation from these guidelines may be due to local clinical practice being followed. Because of the additive morbidity and mortality with hypertension, the clinician must be aware of current management guidelines and the importance of aggressive therapy and monitoring of patient compliance is essential. Initiation of antiplatelet agents as primary prevention for cardiovascular disease should be implemented. Significant reductions in cardiovascular and diabetes-related outcomes have been seen with aggressive interventions.
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