Cost Analysis of Medications Used in Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Prescribing Patterns in University Sans Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Purpose: To conduct a cost analysis, a narrow cost-utility study, for upper respiratory tract infection medications in University Sans Malaysia’s clinics.
Methods: Retrospective analysis was done for all medical claims of upper respiratory tract infections in the period 2008 - 2009. The study was done in the clinics under University Sains Malaysia. A total of 302 patients suffering from upper respiratory tract infection were enrolled. Cost analysis of the pattern of antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory tract infections was done. For cost analysis, costs were calculated based on the acquisition cost from the perspective of the medical center (USM) as the provider.
Results: The research results states that there were 90% among the patients were prescribed an antibiotic, 81 percent were prescribed an antihistamine, 81 percent were prescribed an analgesic, and 21 percent were prescribed a mucolytic or an expectorant.
Conclusion: In comparison to the previously revised researchers, the percentage of the prescribed antibiotics is very high which is unacceptable. A tremendous amount of expenditure and other adverse events can be avoided by halting this behavior. A local guideline for prescribing antibiotics and implementing the same is the need of the hour.

Keywords
Prescribing patterns; Cost analysis; Upper respiratory tract; Infections; Antibiotics