INSOMNIA & DRUGS USED: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL & DRUG UTILIZATION STUDY IN PSYCHIATRY UNIT OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL

Swati Mishra,*, Suvendu N.Mishra, Monalisa Jena1, S.S.Mishra

Insomnia, currently the most prevalent sleep disorder characterised by difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep. Several studies have been carried out in different populations regarding use of medications for its treatment; however there is need for more studies aimed at taking a closer look on the drugs used in our population. Hence, this study was carried out to observe the utilization pattern of drugs for insomnia in our hospital. A prospective observational drug utilization study of 252 patients of both sexes and all ages suffering from insomnia attending the Psychiatry outpatient department was carried out as per WHO – DUS(world health organisation- Drug utilisation study) and DSM – V guidelines. It involved administering a Proforma to consenting subjects whose psychiatric diagnoses were ascertained using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V. One hundred twenty patients out of two hundred fifty two patients were from age group 25-45 years and thirty seven patients were above 65 years. Average number of drugs for insomnia per prescription was not more than two. Most commonly prescribed drug were Clonazepam 50(13.9%) followed by Lorazepam 39(10.8%). The newer benzodiazepines like Zolpidem, Zaleplon were also commonly used but Eszopiclone 6(1.67%) was the least commonly used drug. The study concludes the prevalence of insomnia in younger age groups and association of it with other disorders. Benzodiazepines and newer non-benzodiazepine hypnotics were the most frequently used drugs for treating insomnia in our population.