Polypharmacy: Its Cost Burden and Barrier to Medical Care in a Drug-Oriented Health Care System

Abstract

In order to determine the economic and therapeutic implications of the prescriber habit in a drug-oriented health care system, data were collected on the provisional diagnosis, prescribed drugs, and their cost and procurement pattern among 1450 pediatric outpatients in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital. It was found that on average, about five drugs were prescribed for each patient, and there was a tendency to prescribe more expensive and sometimes unnecessary drugs. The more the number or higher the cost of drugs prescribed, the less patients procured them. It is therefore recommended that health care authorities and physicians in similar settings should review their drug policies and prescribing habits in order to discourage polypharmacy and the high cost of chemotherapy, with their attendant barrier to medical care.