BACKGROUND AND AIM

Effective medication use plays important role in neonates. However, drug

therapies are complex in neonates with vulnerability due to developmental

immaturity. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients also have a high drug

burden. The purpose of this study was to investigate at drug use in a NICU

in Turkey and to examine the possible relationship between gestational age,

length of stay with prescribed medicine count.

METHODS

This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the NICU unit of

Tinaztepe University, School of Medicine hospital. Clinical data were retrieved

from the electronic health record system of the hospital. All prescribed

medicine is classified according to the third level of the ATC system. Drugdrug

interactions (DDI) were analyzed and classified with the Lexi database.

Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 25.

RESULTS

The average number of prescribed medicines per patient was 5.5. The most

prescribed drugs belonged to anti-infectives for systemic use, and alimentary

tract and metabolism drugs. The number of prescribed drugs negatively correlated

with gestational age and birth weight. There was a positive correlation

between the number of drugs and length of stay. Our analysis revealed most

DDIs were associated with antibiotics.There was no link between the quantity

of drugs used and the number of caesarean sections.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical pharmacy services in NICU are still not implemented in Turkey.Further

multi-center prospective studies in NICU about drug utilization will help to

identify risk factors for drug related problems and the the role of clinical

pharmacy.