Prescribing Pattern of Tablet form Antihistamines: An Overview of Cost and Expenditure in A Dermatology Clinic in Malaysia

In the management of dermatological disorders, antihistaminic drugs are one of the most frequently used systemic medications other than corticosteroids and antibiotics.Therefore, it is important to evaluate the prescribing patterns of antihistamine along with the subsequent cost and expenditure which can advise the prescribers on the rational and optimize drug use and improve therapeutic efficacy.Thus, this study main objectives are to determine;• the prescribing pattern of solid dosage form i.e., tablet for antihistamines among patients attending a dermatology clinic in Malaysia and; • the cost for each type of antihistamines prescribed.Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with data of 648 prescriptions collected anonymously from the electronic Information System (eIS) from 1st of January to 31 st of March 2021.Findings: The data suggests that loratadine (42.75%) is the most prescribed antihistamine while levocetirizine (1.39%) the least.Second generation antihistamine is the most prescribed antihistamine (60.96%) compared to the first-generation antihistamine (39.04%).The dermatology clinic also recorded the highest expenditure for loratadine (RM 3142.54)compared to other antihistamines which is 50% of the total expenditure.Other costs include hydroxyzine (RM 1729.92),desloratadine (RM 582.76), chlorpheniramine (RM 433.69), cetirizine (RM 385.79) with levocetirizine (RM 81.93) costing the lowest, which corresponds to 1% of the total expenditure.Moreover, eczema (46.14%) was the most common skin disorder reported.Conclusion and further research: Statistical analysis reveals that the type of antihistamine prescribed is associated with indications or type of skin disorder.Other factors i.e., patients' gender and age do not influence the type of prescribed antihistamine specifically in the locality of the parameter set.Since the clinic in the study is subsidized by the government, the cost of expenditure does not play a major role in the prescribing pattern.The follow up research can focus on all dosage forms of antihistamine and can be widen to all department of the hospital.