Title

Drug utilisation and adverse drug reaction monitoring in schizophrenic patients: A tertiary care hospital study in India  

Authors

Vipin Kumar Jain^1,*, Shilpa N Kaore², Megha Jain³ &Vaibhav Dubey⁴

Affiliation

¹Department of Pharmacology, Chhindwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India; ²Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; ³Department of Dentistry, Chhindwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India; ⁴Department of Psychiatry, PCMS & RC, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Vipin Kumar Jain ^- E-mail: vipinjainrn@gmail.com

Shilpa N Kaore ^- E-mail: shilpakaore@gmail.com

Megha Jain - E-mail: megha.vipin12@gmail.com

Vaibhav Dubey - E-mail: dr.vaibhavdubey@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received June 1, 2026; Revised June 30, 2026; Accepted June 30, 2026, Published June 30, 2026
 

Abstract

Inadequate and poorly documented data on psychotropic drug utilization in schizophrenia in India necessitates systematic evaluation of prescribing patterns and associated adverse drug reactions. This prospective observational study assessed drug utilization, prescription rationality and adverse drug reactions among schizophrenia patients attending a tertiary care psychiatric outpatient department using WHO prescribing indicators. A total of 112 prescriptions comprising 285 drugs were analyzed, with atypical antipsychotics prescribed in 87% of first-visit cases, while combination therapies and polypharmacy were frequently observed. Significant dose variations were noted in commonly used antipsychotics such as risperidone, olanzapine and aripiprazole, as well as benzodiazepines like clonazepam and lorazepam (p<0.001). Atypical antipsychotics predominated due to better tolerability and lower extrapyramidal side effects, highlighting evolving prescribing trends. Thus, structured evidence on drug utilization patterns and variability in dosing, help in optimizing rational prescribing practices in schizophrenia management.

Keywords

Drug utilization, adverse drug reaction (ADR), schizophrenia, tertiary hospital

Citation

Jain et al. Bioinformation 22(6): 3568-3571 (2026)

Edited by

Ritik Kashwani 

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.