pharmacotherapeutic profile of patients in use of antimicrobials at a private hospital, in fortaleza – ce - doi:10.5020/18061230.2006.p224

In spite of the effective use of antimicrobials, germs keep winning the battle in infectious diseases, causing deaths and morbidity. One of the reasons of such situation consists in the appearance and dissemination of microbe resistance, which tends to increase with the abusive use of antimicrobials. This serious problem affects both individual and collective health. This study aimed at knowing the pharmacotherapeutic profile of patients in use of antimicrobials at Luis França Children’s Hospital. A descriptive and retrospective study was held during a period of two months (August – September, 2004), in which 156 medical files were analyzed. In 80 (51%) of those, the patients were female, while 76 (49%) were male. The prevalent age group was 1 to 3 years old, with average age of 4.6 years. Pneumonia was the most prevalent pathology in the study, being responsible for 36% of the internments. The most used route of administration was intravenous with 97%. The antimicrobial most solely prescribed was Ampicilin with 32%. There was an association of two or more antimicrobials in 20 (12.8%) studied medical records. Among the studied files, only 2 (1.3%) cases of adverse reaction related to medicament were observed. The authors suggest the elaboration of therapeutic protocols, in order to avoid the wrong use of antimicrobials and reduce the appearance of bacteria resistance.