Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic progressive metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia mainly due to absolute (Type 1 DM) or relative (Type 2 DM) deficiency of insulin hormone. Comorbid conditions increase chances of polypharmacy and irrational prescriptions in diabetic patients. This prospective non interventional study aimed to gather and study the medication therapy management in diabetes patient at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A prospective observational study conducted in diabetes patients at a tertiary care hospital in Baptist hospital, Bangalore. The study was conducted in 150 diabetic patients admitted in medicine ward. Patients were included in the study only after obtaining written informed consent form; all relevant data were collected from case record forms and were analyzed. Results: Diabetes mellitus was observed to be highest in patients with the age group of60-70 years, affecting 64.7% males and 35.3% females. We observed that 70 (46.7%) of patients were only on OHA, 62(41.5%) were on insulin therapy and 18(12%) were on combination of OHAs and insulin. The most common comorbid conditions observed by us were hypertension, chronic renal disease, etc. Among the various antidiabetics, sulfonylurea and Biguanide combination drug was the common class of drug used accounting for 75 (50.09%) of the total antidiabetics The average prescription cost was found to be lesser for treating diabetes (hypoglycemic) alone compared to diabetes associated complaints. Conclusion: To conclude, the study reveals that Metformin continues to be the choice of oral hypoglycemic agents with least adverse effects and insulin was used to treat uncontrolled state, Overall polypharmacy was high even though polypharmacy among antidiabetic drugs were low. The mostly occurring co morbidity with diabetes is hypertension and most frequently used oral hypoglycemic agent included metformin.
