Methods and findings in experimental and clinical pharmacology
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Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol · Jul 2010
A prospective study on the pattern of medication use for schizophrenia in the outpatient pharmacy department, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Selangor, Malaysia.
Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder and pharmacotherapy plays a major role in its management. The 1950s and early 1960s saw milestones in the introduction of psychotropic drugs in clinical practice. A review of drug prescriptions in different settings provides an insight into the pattern of drug use, identifies drug-related problems and may be used to compare recommended guidelines with actual practice. ⋯ Monotherapy was given to 73.0% of the schizophrenia patients. The majority of patients also received antidepressants. To conclude, this study gave evidence that physicians had a strong preference for monotherapy with conventional antipsychotic drugs while the use of atypical drugs was less prevalent.