| Abstrakt: |
Orang Asal are the indigenous people of Malaysia. Orang Asal in Peninsular Malaysia are collectively known as Orang Asli. They are a marginalised population group. Health status among the indigenous is generally poor and shows an increasing trend of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).Thus, IMAM Response & Team Relief (IMARET), a medical-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) organises a mobile clinic which provides monthly free healthcare services to Orang Asli population. Drug Utilisation Evaluation (DUE) is an ongoing, systematic criteria-based programme of medicine evaluation to ensure appropriate medicine use. This study was conducted to determine the DUE on the physician prescribing pattern on NCD. The specific objectives are to identify the prevalence of NCD, to determine the appropriate medications used for NCD and to compare the physician prescribing pattern. This study was conducted as retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study between January 2017 to December 2018. The subjects were screened using convenience sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was carried out using prescription data collected in the mobile clinic. Hypertension was the most common prevalent among the Orang Asli (n = 48, 18.5%), followed by gout (n = 7, 2.7%), dyslipidaemia (n = 4, 1.5%), diabetes mellitus (n = 2, 0.8%) and asthma (n = 1, 0.4%). Drug therapy is a very important component in the disease management. The most common prescribed antihypertensive, anti-gout, anti-dyslipidemic, and anti-asthmatic agents were calcium channel blocker, colchicine, statin and short-acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) respectively. However, common prescribed anti-diabetic agents were biguanide and sulfonylurea. Oral nifedipine, perindopril, salbutamol and glibenclamide were not listed in National Essential Medicine List (NEML). In contrast, only oral glibenclamide was not listed in Ministry of Health (MoH) Medicine Formulary. Appropriate prescribing pattern among the physicians help to reduce the morbidity and mortality of NCDs among Orang Asli. Appropriateness of the prescribed medications is influenced by the limited availability of the medications. Rational and standard prescribing pattern by the physicians are needed to ensure effective and safe treatment for the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
