General practitioner prescribing patterns in Babol city, Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

To determine patterns of prescribing in Iranian primary care, we analysed 4000 randomly selected prescriptions from 52 general practitioners (GPs) in Babol city during 1999-2000. The mean number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 4.4 ± 1.7, with 98% prescribed by generic name. The most commonly prescribed items were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (62.9% of encounters) and antibiotics (61.9%), followed by central nervous system drugs, gastrointestinal tract drugs, corticosteroids, vitamins and cardiovascular system drugs respectively. Injections were prescribed in 58.0% of encounters. Female and male doctors had significantly different antibiotic prescribing patterns. Our study confirms the tendency of GPs to overprescribe.